


The Legend of Zelda: Memories of the Past

by orphan_account



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Dark doesn't think he deserves happiness, Denial of Feelings, Dissociation, Ghirahim revokes his ways and becomes a mentor, M/M, Mild Language, Multiple Personalities, Out of Body Experiences, Past Character Death, Recovering Memories, Repressed Memories, Slow Burn, Temporary Amnesia, Unstable Characters, Wise Zelda, confused identities, denial of events, mentions of sexual situations, past betrayal, they're in high school for literally two seconds, things get very confusing, violence towards a main character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-01 16:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5212256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alone in this new timeline, only Dark remembers his past with the Hero... their friendship, their love... his betrayal. If Link regains his memories, will he still love his shadow... even after what he's done? </p><p>But if things go as planned, Link will never remember, and everyone can keep on living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

School was one of those things, Link decided, that came and went no matter how much effort was put into learning… so, if time would pass without him _trying_ , what was the point? He was already stuck with insane classes to take: Hyrule History, where the textbook was conveniently titled “Hyrule Historia”, was the worst. He and his best friend, Sheik, were the only two in the class who were on the brink of failing, and because of that, they were to report in an hour early every morning. Every single morning.

School was also one of those things, Link decided, that people could definitely live without.

It wasn’t that Link _hated_ going to Courage High, because he didn’t, but his history class frustrated him to no end. Some things that the teacher, Mr. Byrne, spouted from the textbook were fundamentally _wrong._ How in the world did the first hero, the Hero of the Skies, venture singlehandedly on his quest, not returning home, not even to get supplies? Link felt like there had to be _someone_ else with him on the quest, even if they weren’t actively “saving the world” and “founding Hyrule”. It didn’t sit well with Link – the hero was still human…

Today, though, would be different, Link hoped. The teacher had given the two friends a strange look when he read over their test answers the day before and then simply said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” No lecture, no disappointed glare… just a dismissal…

Soon enough, before he knew it, Link was seated in front of the teacher’s desk beside Sheik who was leaning back lazily.

“The teacher tells _us_ not to be late…” The crimson eyed blonde mumbled vindictively. As if on cue, Byrne pushed into the classroom with two more books than usual and a strange expression.

“Glad to see you two could make it,” he said as his usual greeting. He sighed as if something was weighing down on him… “I guess… you two have already caught on, slightly, to today’s lesson. This is the last lesson you’ll be receiving from me, and from then on you two will have to draw your own conclusions. The material for the rest of the year… I want you to interpret it in your own way. I will give you permission to not follow the curriculum.” Link and Sheik looked at each other, sapphire to ruby, before turning back to Byrne wordlessly.         

“The Hero of Time was said to have wielded the Master Sword countless times, even being sealed away because of it,” Mr. Byrne began, pointing to the board with his prosthetic arm. “He is the Goddess Chosen Hero, according to legend, and has saved Hyrule countless times.” Byrne changed the slide to show an interpretation of the Hero.

“Hey, he looks like you, Link!” Sheik noted, earning a glance from Byrne.

Link frowned at the hero on the screen. His dirty blonde hair was painted harshly around his pale face, and his unnerving blue eyes glared down a sharp nose. On his ears, he wore two pale blue earrings to compliment his eyes. Before Byrne hit “next” on the PowerPoint, he narrated, “This is the Hero of Twilight. Unfortunately, like  most of the other heroes, he lived in a time when cameras were not yet invented, so we do not know definitely what his appearance really is.” The next slide showed the Hero of Legend next to the Hero of Twilight and the Hero of Time. Another picture showed the Hero of Winds, which was a photograph, surprisingly… the Hero of – the heroes ran together in Link’s mind.

Maybe Sheik was right – the likeness was uncanny. They all had that messy mop of blonde hair, the green obsession – and his father had made fun of him for that! Ha! – and the piercing blue eyes. Each one had them, the eyes that seemed to burn through the screen. He realized how young the Hero of Winds was, with his childish round face, but his expression was one of determination. The Hero of Legend, the first hero, had a young look to his face, also. He had not yet been plagued with the memories of past heroes, and his only purpose was to save his best friend, a reincarnation of the goddess Hylia.

The Hero of Twilight was the one that bothered him most, though.

This hero’s eyes had the harsh slash of someone who’d suffered through too many battles, lived through too many lives. Like the Hero of Time, his eyes were old, his face angular… even his posture screamed _Fighter!_

Byrne went on, ignoring Link’s wary look. “For each hero, there was likely a dark counterpart. The Hero of Time was famous for fighting his dark counterpart deep within a temple, succeeding and becoming stronger from the experience.

“The Hero of Twilight was explained to have known the story of Twilight, how dark interlopers were infesting the world. The Hero of Winds was spared this experience, but some other heroes, such as the Royal Engineer, also fought this dark interloper.”

“What was the hero’s name?” Sheik blurted. “I mean, all of the heroes. Were they named differently, or...?”

“No, they all have the same name. Quite simply, their name is Link.” Link flinched and looked up, blue eyes wide. “Link is a common name in Hyrule, as is my name, Byrne. My namesake was said to have died in protecting the Princess and the Royal Engineer in battle with Malladus, whom you should remember from chapter fourteen.”

Link nodded his head absently, frowning. Sheik sat up eagerly, waving his hand around. “Do I have a namesake?”

“Yes, in fact, you do. You are named after Sheik the Sheikah, who aided the Hero of Time in the second half of his quest. Although, Sheik never really existed, in actuality he was just—“

“Do you hear that, Link! We’re probably part of some grand scheme, some legend, something bigger than all of us and-“ Byrne held up his hand to stop the boy.

“The reason I’m explaining this is for that exact reason. The Hero of Time stumbled upon it, and I believe it’s come into play once again… I do believe… that you two are connected to this timeline.” The teacher dropped his pointer and leaned back against the desk, eyeing the two. “I want you two to tell me what you think – on Monday, of course. You are dismissed.”

The two stood up and gathered their books. Byrne nodded and Sheik followed Link out of the room, talking eagerly. Link’s mind was elsewhere, however.

If Link was connected to the prophecy… was everyone…?

~X~

Per Byrne’s request, Link – he wasn’t sure about Sheik – was going to draw his own conclusions about this school.

In high school, Link had learned things the hard way. There was always that one student out to get him, that one student who everyone forgot, and that one overly popular student… there was the girlfriend stealer – Link silently cursed that lavender haired weirdo, Vaati – the creep…

But, going back, there was always that one forgotten student. Amongst the students in the small high school – quite a few had ruby eyes, Link noted early on – there was one quiet student that he’d ran into a few times. In Freshman year, a few students had come up to him, shyly asking if he had a brother… maybe one with red eyes… the answer was always no. He didn’t have a brother, last time he checked, but he did have a younger sister who, Link made certain of this, was off limits to all high school guys.

This guy, Link’s “brother”, was the kind of student to do his work and leave immediately, taking part in little to no social interaction. Link had done his research, via Zelda, one of the most popular girls in school… who also happened to be his best friend’s sister….

Link’s doppelganger was a dark haired teen named Dark, a quiet, thin guy with eerie crimson eyes that were always set in a glare. He moved about like a shadow, keeping an eye out for potential threats as if he were always under fire…

Of course, when Link looked for him, he looked for dark – most likely black – hair, and ignored everyone in the café whose hair was lighter than dark brown… and didn’t notice the white haired teen standing in front of him.

“Excuse me,” the crimson eyed boy said, hand half way out as if to brush Link aside. “I’d like to actually get something to drink, if you don’t mind.” As Link murmured a quick, “Sorry”, and moved, their eyes met for a second, just a fleeting second…

… and all hell broke loose.

A fistful of Link’s shirt later, Dark had the boy shoved against the vending machine, angry red eyes glaring into confused blue.

Link squirmed as he saw the conflict rage in Dark’s eyes before settling with an emotion that startled the blonde. Pain.

“You… _left_ me…” Dark hissed up at him, arms shaking. He dropped Link back to the ground and Link tried to back up… only to run into the vending machine. He was trapped.

Dark’s hands slammed on either side of his head, slapping against the dark plastic. Pale hair fell in a halo around the teen’s bowed head, pure black hair at his roots.

“Uh… I-I’m sorry if I offended you in any way… I didn’t…-“

“Stop,” Dark said, his voice quiet. He stood up and turned around before Link could see his eyes again… or his face, that face that seemed so familiar… “I mistook you for someone else,” Link could hear the lie in the other’s voice. “I’m sorry.”

The teen walked away stiffly, each movement carefully controlled, his left hand raising half way to his head… dropping dejectedly…

But there was something _wrong_ about Dark’s eyes, Link concluded.

“Link!” Sheik called from the left, eyeing Dark. “What did you _do?_ The guy looks destroyed…”

Link sighed worriedly, “I’m not sure myself…”

~X~

_Link found himself surrounded by a heartbeat loud enough to drown out his own, his face lying on smooth skin cool to the touch…_

_Link’s body moved on its own accord, turning over to face his sleeping partner. Dark. Something inside of Link’s mind screamed for him to jump up in shock, but his body acted as if it were natural, rolling over and gazing at the clear sky._

_“Hold that pose,” a voice said from next to him. A dark haired teen – no man… -- leaned over, shining ruby eyes looking down at him. Unmistakably, these eyes could only belong to one person… Link so desperately wanted to move, to get out of this uncomfortable position._

_Listening, Link could hear water gently lapping at land around them, and the smell of moss, grass, and something sweet filled his nostrils. He inhaled, his body still moving on its own._

_“What?” Link didn’t recognize his own voice – it was deeper…_

_“I said ‘hold that pose’. It’s not often I get to see you smile, you know.”_

_“You make it sound like a bad thing…”_

_Dark sighed, a small, exasperated laugh escaping. “It really is, you know? People worship you, but you make it seem like the life of a hero is always depressing…” Dark sighed again, rolling over. “Just… promise me something.”_

_Link’s eyes shifted to look at Dark. “About what?”_

_“Promise me that, after this is all over… promise me that you’ll never stop smiling.”_

_“Where’s this coming from?”_

_Dark’s ruby eyes shifted back to the cloudless sky. “It’s just… it makes the sun shine a little brighter, you know? And the clouds a little less…” Dark’s hand reached up and gripped the fabric over his heart. “A little less dark...”_

_Link sat up. “Okay. Whatever. But you have to promise me something in return.” Dark looked over at Link in question. “Whenever I smile, I want you to smile, too.”_

~X~

When Link opened his eyes, his face was pressed flat against the unforgiving surface of a standard school desk. Mr. Byrne was droning on about something unimportant, and Link swallowed the panic that had risen in his throat. Byrne had given him direct permission to ignore class, hadn’t he?

Cerulean eyes slid over to the figure hunched next to Link – Sheik was leaning back, sleeping as he had just been. In the back of the classroom, Zelda was staring intently at her cell phone screen and beside her… a white head was hunched in sleep, too. Link’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the dark hair branching out from the roots. Blushing abruptly, he turned away and adverted his thoughts.

Apparently, he and Sheik hadn’t been the only two given permission to slack.

His recon was done – he could peacefully sit in class and think without having to worry about getting scolded by a teacher for “Ignorantly ignoring my intense instructions!” like one flamboyant teacher, Ghirahim, had put it.

Link’s mind drifted back… the dream was blurry, but Link could distinctly remember something about Dark. The Dark in his mind was different from the Dark he’d met at lunch – dream Dark had shimmering, hopeful ruby eyes, dancing with excitement… the real Dark had empty, crimson blood eyes that were dulled because of pain. The excitement was drained, the hope smothered.

 _That’s_ what was wrong with the boy’s eyes. They were dead to the world, so unlike they were in Link’s dream. The Dark with the life-filled eyes was _right_.

In a spur of the moment, Link pulled out his cell phone. _Zel,_ he texted quickly, _Tell Dark to meet me and Sheik outside of the café._

 _Any reason why?_   Was the instant response.

 _Did Mr. Byrne tell you anything strange today?_ Link decided it’d be good to know who was in on the “no more history” routine.

 _First teacher I’ve had that told me I didn’t have to listen in class, if that’s what you mean._ Link grinned inwardly.

_Yeah, that’s what I mean. Sheik’s in on it too… I want to know if Dark is, by extension._

_You act like you know him._ Zelda wasn’t Zelda if not perceptive. Link frowned at his screen. His battery power was almost completely gone… and he’d _just_ charged his phone, too.

 _I_ feel _like I should know him, if that makes sense._

_It doesn’t, but whatever._

 His battery died as soon as he went to reply. There was no time to mourn, however, because the bell rang, signifying the end of Link’s last period of the day. He stood up quickly, slinging his untouched back-pack over his shoulder and running to get out of class. Behind him, Sheik and Zelda followed before Mr. Byrne suddenly reached out. A prosthetic limb prevented four students from leaving their last class… on a Friday… needless to say, the four were not happy.  

“What?” Link asked irritably, frowning back to realize that Sheik, Zelda, and _Dark_ were also trapped behind him.

“I need to talk to you four…” Byrne declared, motioning for them to have a seat. Link tossed down his bag and leaned against a front row desk, Sheik following suit. Zelda hopped up on the desk, crossing her legs and Dark stood behind a desk, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“I guess… tomorrow, I’ll be taking you on a field trip of sorts.” Byrne started, looking at the surprise on their faces. “I want you four to see the Legendary Master sword. I know this sounds like nonsense,” Sheik snorted and Byrne shook his head, “but I do believe that this era has some connection to the last.”

No one missed the glance Byrne gave Dark, who had settled for leaning against the far wall.

“You four are connected to this timeline – I’m convinced. There’s no mistake.” Byrne gestured towards a miniature statue of the Master Sword that sat on his desk. “I was raised to protect ‘The Hero’, as were my ancestors. ‘Should the Hero ever come along,’ I was told, ‘guide him. Your ancestor would be proud.’” Byrne turned around and picked up the statue. “I shall guide the hero and his aides to the Master Sword…”

“If you want to spout this nonsense to your class of idiots,” a quiet voice said, and three pairs of eyes turned towards Dark, “feel free. I’m not buying it.” He stood up straight and grabbed his bag on one shoulder. “I don’t see how you’re qualified to teach this stuff.”

“Oh, but Dark,” Byrne said gravely, “you remember more than anyone else.” Dark froze in a step but continued walking. “We need you to regain _our_ memories.”

“So, this isn’t just about ‘The Hero’, then? You want to get your past memories, too? Your ancestors? You want to remember how you died, right, saving _their_ ,” he sent a glare at Link and Zelda, “meaningless lives?”

“I’m sure meaningless isn’t what you want to use,” Link began, standing up straight to look Dark in the eye. “Meaningless _wasn’t_ what you wanted to use, was it?”

Dark grit his teeth, his pale face seeming even paler in the fluorescent light. “You… you don’t remember…” He took a menacing step towards Link, his fists clenching and unclenching. “You _should_ remember what you did to me…”

“Dark,” Byrne said stiffly, pushing an arm between the two. “He doesn’t remember… but you can help him. Swallow your hatred, Dark, and we can _all_ regain our memories. If you still feel the need to take revenge…”

“You don’t know!” Dark shouted, stepping back in disgust. “You want me to ‘swallow my hate’?” Suddenly, he laughed, dull ruby eyes going wide. “I think… I _know!_ You don’t want one of Ganondorf’s followers to _help_ you along on your quest, to relieve this world of _evil!_ ” He spat the word, licking his lips gingerly as if he could taste it on his tongue. “But, you think since the ‘Hero’ trusted me, and since we were…” he trailed off, narrowing his eyes. “Fine!” He shouted, as if someone had suddenly pressured him. “Fine, I’ll help you get your memories, ‘Hero’,” He glared bitterly at Link, “But I can’t promise they’ll be pretty.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This is yet another one of my stories copied directly from my fanfiction account. These updates will come pretty quickly, since a few of the chapters are already pre written.  
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello hello! *throws self into the void*  
> Okay so I have reached the ultimate achievement of being late posting a story that is already written. And I have no excuses with this one. I'm not even editing this. I just forgot it existed until five minutes ago.  
> Sooo, here we go with chapter 2 of Memories of the Past!  
> I am also going to apologize ahead of time for the formatting issues. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Sky Child…

Link sat up in bed, glancing at the clock. It was far from morning, he reasoned, having seen his window first. 1:00 AM. So he would inevitably lose sleep before the “big trip” later on.

His blue eyes gave him a fuzzy interpretation of his room, but blinking didn’t clear away the haze in the dim light of his clock.

Listen, Child, follow… show… place.

Link shook his hair out and sat up completely, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Who was whispering in his room? Did someone leave the television on? No… that wasn’t right… he lived alone, now…

“Ignorant child,” A voice sounded from Link’s doorway and the teen proceeded in falling out of bed, tangled in sheets. He instinctively reached for his lamp, slamming his hand on it and activating the light…

A tall, think figure stood in Link’s doorway, grey white hair falling over one eye. The man looked over, fixing his ear-ring before speaking. “I’ve been trying to wake you up for an hour…”

Link stared at the man, struggling to think straight. He took in the man’s unnaturally tight clothes, along with the flamboyant red cape and… purple eyeliner?

“Mr. Ghirahim?!”

“Yes, child. Now, get yourself up and get dressed. We have much to discuss.”

~X~

1:00 in the morning wasn’t the ideal time to go for a quiet stroll, Dark knew, but it would have to do. The shady street was perfect – there wasn’t a sound to be heard for miles. As soon as Dark walked by, he could just make out the scampering of small animals… then silence.

His sneakers on the cold pavement were a calming rhythm to his tumultuous thoughts. It was strange, how, over the years, the world changed. Dark looked down at the pavement, frowning. “How long was it from my past life to now?” he wondered.

In his past life, Dark noted, there was horse travel, not cars. Now, people didn’t fight with swords, they fought with guns. But there were no monsters roaming the streets… unless they took a human form, and there were no castles and kingdoms that ruled over all.

Communication was efficient now – with his remaining power, it was an easy matter to drain a battery in a simplistic phone, as he had done many times before…

But life was definitely more dangerous. People were more dangerous.

Dark shook his now white hair. Dying it had been a mistake, he knew now. Changing his appearance wasn’t going to make Link remember him any faster… but did he want that? Did he want the Hero’s love again, after what happened…?

Dark’s sneakers on the cold pavement became a sickening rhythm. His black sneakers morphed into black and gray leather boots. The dark gray pavement morphed into light gray stairs, evenly spaced and spiraling. The emptiness in front of him changed into a green back that moved with a steady rhythm.

“Wait, here, Dark.” The green back ordered, still running ahead up the stairs. Dark didn’t listen, running behind him, dodging pieces of the crumbling castle.

”Why?” Dark asked, “It wasn’t this way last time – since when did the castle crumble as we were going up?”

A green head shook in the icy darkness and Dark realized that he was running alone along the empty street.

~X~

Link put up quite a fight against his intruder, but in the end, he was bested.

“Clam yourself, Sky Child!” The “teacher” shouted. “You are in no condition to fight me. I’d actually appreciate it if you cooperated.” He sighed when Link slumped down, determined to make it hard for Ghirahim to “kidnap” him.

Yawning, the teacher reached down and bound Link’s wrists together in one quick motion and gagged him with a flick of his wrist. He reached down and slung Link easily over his shoulder, ignoring the teen’s uncomfortable squirms. The thin man marched towards the front door, shivering slightly at the cold air – he’d been forced to abandon his warm cloak during the struggle – and slammed the door behind him. Lifting his unoccupied hand – his left hand – up, he brought his fingers together in one quick motion, leaving behind a cloud of diamonds and the sound of a snap ringing through the night.

They appeared in a meadow that was inexplicably glowing. To the far right of Link, there was a bag with some supplies. Something sharp glinted in the light… a sword, Link realized with a jolt. There was a sword, sharpened and ready to go… a teacher had kidnapped him in the middle of the night and brought him to the middle of nowhere…

Link suppressed a shout – this was the end! It had to be! This was the evil Dark and Byrne were talking of! This teacher was out to get him! He would torture him and do all kinds of sick—

“Calm down, Sky Child, I have no interest in making you suffer.” Link squirmed on the ground until staggering to his feet. His eyes were wide but he managed to create a fierce expression around the gag. Ghirahim smiled, laughing. “You’re expression is positively hilarious, Link, but now’s not the time for jokes.”

Link spluttered, taken aback, and settled for watching Ghirahim dance around the meadow, setting up what looked like the training dummies from the gym’s self-defense closet.

How ironic.

“Link,” said boy looked up to see that Ghirahim had ended his psychotic dance and settled for staring at him. “How much do you remember about fighting?”

Link’s blue eyes went wide and he tried to reply, but the gag was really starting to burn, and Link’s wrists were still tied. “Oh, my apologies,” the teacher mumbled, snapping his fingers. Instantly, the bonds disappeared in a flurry of red-purple diamonds.

Link gasped, bringing a hand up to wipe the saliva from his lips. “What the hell?!”

“I’m sorry, but it was necessary. I apologize if my actions caused your mind to wander…”

“Don’t even go there,” Link snapped, rubbing his wrists.  

Ghirahim sighed a long suffering sigh, strolling over and kneeling down, gesturing for Link to do the same. When two cerulean eyes glared down at him, he sighed again and stood up. “You, Sky Child, are making this more awkward than it has to be. Come, sit.” Slowly, Link lowered himself to the ground, and once again Ghirahim kneeled down.

“At this point in time, I really can’t injure you, dear Link.” Ghirahim began, smirking. “My first end… that wasn’t a pleasant experience. I’ve all but lost my abilities at this point, almost nineteen lives later...”

“Eighteen,” Link automatically corrected, his own eyes going wide as the word left his lips.

“Yes, yes, you are quite right – this is your eighteenth life and my second.” When Link didn’t reply, the man sighed. “Yes, you were never too talkative… that resulted in many fights between us, considering how long-winded I tend to be…”

“What did you bring me here for?”         

“Straight to the point? Very direct, I see…” Ghirahim chuckled. “You see, you and those three… the Princess, the Sheikah, and the Shadow… what do you remember of your lives?”

Link sighed, closing his eyes. “I know that I wasn’t alone…” Ghirahim nodded although Link couldn’t see him. “But life for me wasn’t exactly peachy since I was the hero… I guess, along my quest, I made people learn to hate me…” He opened his blue eyes, trying to rid Dark’s face from his mind, “But they’re not solid memories. Like, things I just know instead of things I’ve been through, and I don’t remember anything about them… maybe a little about Dark...” he admitted.

“I see,” Ghirahim mumbled. “Tomorrow – or, rather, later today – you, your companions, and that teacher will steal the Master Sword… to regain your memories, of course.” Link’s eyes widened and he stood up in shock.

“We’re going to steal it?”

“Yes. You see… out of all of us connected to timelines, only few of us actually have our memories. Since I only lived one other life, I have almost all of my memories. You’d be surprised to learn that I was after your head on a plate, smothered in your crimson blood in my past life. I hated you, Hero, because you kept throwing a wrench in my plans. This time around, however, I am needed for a different reason.”

Link narrowed his eyes and slowly sat back down. His mouth remained set in a hard line.

“Your Shadow… he is a unique one. He has kept every single memory from each of his lives. Although you two did not always fight, you did always meet. I can only imagine how hard it was for him to play his role as your enemy although he remembered… never mind. You too, Hero, are needed for a different reason, but the common factor in all of this is your sword.” Ghirahim snapped his fingers and the sword Link had spotted earlier came to drift in front of them.

“We – and I mean your teacher and I separately – hope that you will regain your memories because of the Master Sword… he believes that, upon sight, you will know everything… I know that will not be the case. You cannot simply remember by gazing upon the blade of evil’s bane – you must touch it! Wield it! To wield it, you must steal it from the museum it has been rotting away in.”

“You’re telling me that I have to break into the Hyrule Museum of History and steal their most prized artifact…?”

“Yes… in fact, I believe your Shadow—“

“Dark. His name is Dark, not “my Shadow.” Link could feel a growl seeping into his voice… for some reason, the word “Shadow” bothered him to no end.

Ghirahim smiled, his mouth lifting up on one side. “See? You already are regaining your memories. Dark and I agree with this much – you will need to retain ownership of that sword.”

Link swallowed deeply, gritting his teeth for a second while digesting the idea. “What if… what if it doesn’t work?”

“Oh, don’t worry, Sky Child. It will.” The man stood up and stretched. “Now, shall we spar?”

~X~

This was the way Dark came every time he had flashbacks, for whatever reason. There was always something pulling him towards the meadow off to the side of Hyrule Field, the expanse of grass and nature that was left untouched by time.

This time around was different, however, when he heard a shout of pain, and the clanging of metal on metal radiate from the field. He picked up his pace to a slow jog and began to run when the smell of sweat mingled with blood reached him.

“Block, Sky Child!” He heard a voice shout. “You have both a sword and shield! When you are on defense, use them to your advantage!” Another loud clang and Dark rounded the corner in time to see a tall, thin figure bringing its sword down on Link, who appeared to be disarmed.

Link rolled at the last minute, grabbing his shield in his right hand and raising his arm to block the blow. As the figure was recovering, he snatched his sword up in his left hand, which glowed gold for a second, and brought it down in an arc.

Dark tilted his chin up in interest. Link’s fighting style had none of the grace the Hero’s had, and, at this point, Dark was sure that Link was not the Hero. The Hero was fierce though calm and collected. He bowed down to no one. Sure, there was a little bit of fierceness in Link’s eyes, but it was shadowed by his hesitation. The Hero did not hesitate.

Link’s identity would be revealed soon, later today, when Link got his hands on the Sacred Blade. The Sacred Blade would only accept one person and one person only.

Dark’s chest heaved. If Link wasn’t the Link he’d known… his best friend, while they were too young… his lover when they were older… he would move on, continue living his lives until his own timeline ended.

He was wrong in the first place… he shouldn’t have fallen for the Hero. He was the Hero’s Shadow – he wasn’t meant to fall in love and be loved… it’d be best for things to go back to the way they were meant to be.

Before he was noticed, he turned to leave… but something caught his eye. He looked back, scanning the darkness and focusing his ruby eyes on the tall dark figure. Ghirahim.

Instantly, all of his senses went on alert. He forgot all about his “disregard” for Link and ran into the meadow, tackling Link to the ground and out of Ghirahim’s way.

“Ghirahim!” Dark shouted, standing up in front of Link. Ghirahim blinked twice and then chuckled.

“Shadow!” He sang, and Dark narrowed his eyes. “I mean, Dark! It’s nice to meet again…”

“It is, isn’t it…?” Dark snatched up Link’s weapon before he could protest. He stalked around in a circle and saw Link stand up and brush off out of the corner of his eye.

“Dark!” Link shouted angrily. “What are you doing?”

“Saving your ass. Now shut up.” He readied his sword and Ghirahim chuckled gleefully.

“Now, Link, you can see how a real swordsman should look and fight accordingly.” Dark narrowed his eyes at this remark but ignored it. “Toss him your shield, Link,” Ghirahim ordered, and to Dark’s surprise, a flimsy wooden shield was tossed his way.

Dark caught it easily in his left hand and stalked away from Link, moving horizontally with Ghirahim. Without warning, he bared his teeth and snarled, launching himself at the man. His sword came down in a wide arc towards Ghirahim, but at the last minute he slashed it to the side towards the man’s left arm. In a flurry of diamonds, Ghirahim reached up to block but jumped back, readying his sword.

Dark horizontally slashed at the teacher’s torso, but he nimbly avoided it with a back flip, slicing his sword out to counter.

Link’s blue eyes widened when Dark shot into the air above Ghirahim’s sword… and landed on the flat, kneeling down. Ghirahim coughed and dropped his sword, holding his arm in shock. Dark shook his head as if to dry his hair, and smiled.

Standing up straight, Ghirahim smiled and turned to Link, who was still staring, stunned.

“See, Link? Those are moves that even I didn’t know that could…” Link still stared, his oceanic eyes darting from Dark, to Ghirahim, to the sword on the ground between them.

“What the hell are you doing?” Dark asked Ghirahim, eying him and tightening his grip on the sword.

“I was teaching young Link here the ways of sword fighting,” Ghirahim said smoothly, still smiling, “until you came along and destroyed our sparring session. I hope he’s learned something valuable from watching you fight.”

 Both men turned to look at Link, who was still staring at the sword on the ground. He looked up, his blue eyes confused. “Dark…?”

Dark looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah?”

Link blinked and the confusion washed from his eyes. “Sorry… I just…” he looked off into the trees, his eyebrows furrowing. “I…”

“The Water Temple, right…?” Dark replied, turning his head. He watched the surprise flit across Link’s face. “Yeah, I figured. It’s the only other time I used that move, after all.”

“The Water Temple…?”

“Yep. In one of your lives, you fought me in a Water Temple… freed me, pretty much… you saved my life…” Dark’s voice turned to a whisper and he dropped his shield and sword. He turned his back and walked towards the exit of the meadow.

Link looked away, at the ground. In his mind, images of an endless room played. A single tree… two doors… a pale figure against the smooth bark of a dead tree…

“I’m sorry I can’t remember…” Link murmured, and a small laugh resonated in the cold air.

“No… don’t be.”

~X~

For the second time that morning, Link was woken up unceremoniously. To his left, his phone rang frantically, vibrating against the hard top of his dresser. The ringtone he’d set for Sheik and Zelda blared through its small speaker. He checked the clock… 5:30 AM.

He’d barely gotten in the bed! By the time he found his way back home – because Dark had left and Ghirahim didn’t feel like teleporting at such an unholy hour – it was already three… he’d had to take a shower to wash away the sweat, dirt, and blood from his sparing session. By then, because it took two and a half showers to get clean, it was four, and Link had crawled into bed, craving the sleep he was so cruelly denied.

The museum wasn’t even open until eight… Link rolled over, slapping his hand onto the table and glancing at the phone.

He was right – Sheik and Zelda were telling him to get ready. Meet us in front of the school – Dark’s driving us.

Dark was driving them. Great, Link thought. Well, at least he could avoid an awkward moment if he sat in the back, far, far away from the driver’s side. He threw on a green jacket over a black shirt and some black jeans, pulling on a pair of green sneakers before leaving his room. He decided he wouldn’t stress too much over breakfast and grabbed a piece of bread out of the cabinet before pocketing his keys and leaving out of the door.

The school was a few blocks away, but nothing Link couldn’t handle. Stretching quickly, he jogged out into the foggy morning, keeping his breathing even so he wouldn’t be a sweaty mess when he arrived at the school.

He ran up to the front of the building, slowing to a walk as he scanned the empty parking lot. In the fog, one car stood out – a sleek, black car that Link couldn’t name but knew it had to be expensive.

Leaning against the car were four figures, one of which was dressed in all black head to toe. The black figure leaned forward to another as if in an argument. The only one interested in arguing was Dark, Link concluded.

“Dark,” Byrne was saying, “We won’t need to steal from the museum! We’re just going to get Link to get a close up of the sword…”

“You sure have gotten soft, Byrne. If it really is you in there, at least.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“I mean that you probably aren’t Byrne. The Byrne I knew was a power-hungry warrior… I guess, in the end, he decided to protect the future… he died saving the Princess,” Dark jerked his thumb to Zelda, who looked offended, “and was to come back with no memories… which has been holding true… but what if you’re not really him? What if his consciousness isn’t sealed in your body… and you just think it is?”

“That’s what you think happened to me, too, right?” Link said, walking closer. As he stepped out of the fog, Dark’s ruby eyes flashed with surprise and then dulled as he kept talking.

“The only way we’ll know if Link is really the Hero is if he can touch the sword, draw it, and wield it.”

“That’s exactly what Ghirahim told me,” Link mumbled and three sets of eyes looked at him in surprise.              

“Ghirahim?”

“We ran into him, yesterday, after school,” Dark said quickly, covering. He sent Link one meaningful glance and continued. “He agreed with our ‘trip’ to see the Master Sword, but he believes that the sword will have to accept Link. Anyone can just look at it, but no one but the Hero can touch it.”

“The Hero and his Shadow,” Sheik corrected, narrowing his eyes. “I admire your determination, Dark, but I’m not ready to put my full trust in you, yet.”     

“Neither am I,” Zelda chimed in, frowning. “Link’s memories come first, of course, but our memories are equally important. We’ve been regaining our memories quickly, all things considered…”

Sheik continued where Zelda left off. “We remember your purpose and your creator, Dark. Please don’t do anything that would cause use to lose the trust we’re giving you.”

Dark stared at them blankly before opening his mouth to answer. “When Link remembers, he’ll decide what to do with everything. Right now,” Dark’s ruby eyes slid to bore into Link’s cerulean ones, “we don’t even know if he’s the Hero.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I'm going to make sure I don't forget this story again, because man is that embarrassing.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which I spend too much time sleeping and not enough time writing. And the formatting is crap, I know. I'm still trying to get the hang of everything.  
> I have so many projects I'm working on and want to work on it's insane. Not to mention the fact that it is 72 (I think, might be 70 though) degrees outside and I am not used to this weather in December. Climate change is real y'all. I'm literally drying out and all of my wintery spirit is in the trash.  
> Anyways, here's chapter 3!

In the end, Link ended up in the passenger seat.

The ride there was uncomfortable with absolutely no conversation at all. Zelda attempted to begin a conversation with Sheik about upcoming tests in school that they would luckily miss, but all talk of school died out quickly. Link sat, heavily in thought about Sheik and Zelda’s observations.

“Dark,” Link said quietly in complete seriousness. He knew that the passengers in the back could hear them, but he figured his voice was intimate enough to let them know that it was between the two of them. “Why are you helping us…?”

Dark frowned, red eyes sliding quickly to look at Link. “Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t know… I was just wondering. Some people think you’re going to snatch the sword up for yourself, but… I don’t think that’s the case…”

“You trust me, Hero?” Dark asked, laughing a sharp, bitter laugh. “When you remember, you’ll know why I’m helping you, why I don’t want the sword for myself.” Link remained silent for a while, thinking. Quietly, in the back, Sheik, Zelda, and Byrne were talking, whispering so that their conversations were muted.

“You were in love with me.”

The car went silent. Dark swallowed, closing his eyes. He opened them a second later, keeping them trained on the road.

“Yeah, I was.”

“You still are,” Link whispered, looking pointedly at the dashboard. He watched Dark’s pale hands spasm against the wheel, blue and red veins standing out against his skin.

“Yeah,” He took a deep, shaky breath, his unoccupied foot tapping away nervously against the door. “Yeah, I am…”

“Dark, I want you to tell me what I did to you… I… did I love you, too…?”

“You want to remember, right?” Dark still seemed shaken up. “You want to remember, and you will soon enough. _Then_ you’ll realize the mistake.”

“Why can’t you just _tell_ me what I did?”

“What _he_ did! We still don’t know if you’re _him._ ”

“If I am him, then what are you going to do? You already call me ‘Hero’, don’t you? I don’t believe that my memories from this life suddenly won’t matter, Dark. If you’re in pain, you could just leave right now. You have no reason to help us!”

“But I do! You don’t understand!” Dark shook his head, his white hair going wild. “Just…”

Before Link could reply, Dark turned the steering wheel of his car and drove into the lot of the Hyrule Museum of History.

“Here’s how it’s going to work,” Dark said, turning around to look everyone in the eye. “We’re going to go in, set up, and wait for the morning crowd.”

“Why can’t we just walk in and walk out?” Zelda asked, frowning. “I mean, it’d be harder to go through this with witnesses…”

“Yeah, it would be, except they turn off the cameras today from six to nine for maintenance, and the guards will be out from seven to ten for some Hyrule-wide event for law enforcers.”

Byrne smiled, “Exactly why I picked today.” Dark looked at him with a hint of admiration before his eyes went blank.

“Yeah, good job, Teach.”

They all piled out of the car and weren’t surprised to see two guards standing at the front entrance, yawning and carrying on. Dark frowned, looking over at Byrne. The teacher nodded, pulling a bandana over his mouth and crouching down. Silently, something dropped from the rooftop and, with a flick of a wrist, the two guards fell forward onto the concrete.

The figure waved a hand and Byrne saluted, watching as the figure took off back on to the roof.

“I never thought _he_ would come to help,” Sheik noted, watching suspiciously as the figure disappeared.

“He agrees with this plan,” Byrne explained, “Though he and Dark swayed me to take this approach. Ghirahim is more perceptive in this life than he was in his last.”

“I can see that…” Dark mumbled, frowning. “Let’s get this over with, then.” He looked over at Link, with a fleeting glance, and mumbled, “Take off your jacket.”

“What, why?”

“You’re too obvious. We’re all wearing dark colors but you. You’ll stand out.” Looking around, Link realized that, amongst them, he was the only one wearing something other than the dark grays and black common in their clothing.

“What’s wrong with that?” Link asked defensively, honestly wondering.

“You’ll be an easy target. We’re not going to be the only one’s breaking into the museum today. There _is_ evil in this world, this timeline.” Link bit his lip and shrugged off his jacket, handing it to Dark’s outstretched hand. “If I wear it, maybe it’d be easier to mistake me for you.”

“Why would you want to do that?!” Link asked with Sheik and Zelda’s shocked looks to back him up.

“We give off the same aura,” Dark said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “and the Hero was always known for having a thing for green.” With a quick motion, he flipped the hood up over his head, effectively hiding his face. “If someone decides to attack us, they’ll come after me first, thinking I’m you.”

Link opened his mouth to protest, but Dark started to walk along the side of the building, periodically glancing up at the side of the building.

“How are we going to get in?” Byrne asked, frowning at Dark. When Dark glared, Byrne replied in self defense, “I hadn’t exactly planned on breaking into the museum – this was your part of the plan.”

“Then why’d you pick the one best day of the whole year to visit?” Dark started as he began testing out the bricks along the wall. He jammed his foot into an opening and started to _scale_ the flat brick face of the wall.

“If there was an emergency, I didn’t need any cameras or law enforcers to show up!” Byrne replied, scaling the wall with Dark as if there was nothing abnormal about the situation. Link and Zelda stared up in shock as Sheik followed.

“You’ll remember faster if you do stuff you’ve already done,” Sheik called down, his slender form already half way up the building. Zelda looked over at link, her blue eyes shining in the dull light.

“After you?”

Link gave her a small smile. “I’m not quite certain I remember how to climb up buildings yet. If I fall, I don’t want to take you down with me. Ladies first?”

Zelda looked up at the flat wall, contemplating. Dark was already crawling through a ventilation duct, Byrne and Sheik following behind.            

“That’s the problem – I don’t remember too well, either, to tell you the truth…” Zelda stated, looking back at Link. He gaped at her before glancing back at the cool brick.

“I’m guessing that now’s not the time to find out if we _do_ know how, then…”  

“I do think you’ve guessed correctly. It’s not every day you go shimmying up vertical walls.” They both laughed before Zelda sighed. “Now that he’s out of earshot…” she mumbled, looking up, “I can’t help but wonder why you and Sheik are so distant.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Sheik’s the kind of person that lessens heavy moods and lightens stuff up, you know? These memories are changing him, Link.”

“They’re changing all of us,” Link whispered, “even those of us who already remembered.”

The two waited in silence for a few seconds before Link finally broke it. “Zel… how much do you remember of your past lives?”

“Nothing much… or important for that matter. It’s just vague bits and pieces. Me giving you an ocarina… us going to a festival… I remember getting kidnapped – on multiple occasions, to tell you the truth. But I remember that you always saved me.”

“What about Dark?” Link wanted to avoid this, but whom else would he ask?

“I… nothing. Every time I try to remember him, a big blank just pops up. And I feel like it’s hard to remember more about you, later on in your quests, without remembering him. I remember our early lives, but after that, there’s nothing.” She sighed, narrowing her eyes. “But, there’s something that really bothers me.”

“What is it?”

“Some of our timelines are intertwined one life to the next. Like Sheik and I… we share some of the exact same memories. It’s as if we were once the same person.” Link nodded at this, furrowing his brow. “And… I remember who our enemies are, at least. Ghirahim… he confuses me. He has the same aura, in a sense, as Vaati… yet, Ghirahim holds none of the malice he did when we first encountered each other.”

“Do you think they split up over the years...?”

“No,” Zelda said slowly. “I think that, instead of coming back as Ghirahim, he came back as Vaati. And then, of course, somehow _both_ of them, as separate beings, came back into this life. The malice went to Vaati and the morals – which were probably lost at the time – went to Ghirahim. I don’t understand _why_ though, because Ghirahim was the first demonic being to revive a greater power.”

Link nodded slowly, letting it sink in. “I see… then, what about the other enemies…?

“Ganondorf has not changed, though I do believe that Demise,” Link caught himself shuddering at the name, “has come back somewhere in this world. _He’s_ who we need to worry about. It’s as if-“

“What are you two doing down there?” A voice yelled from above and the two jumped, looking up. “Come on up!”

“We would if we could!” Zelda called back, irritation seeping into her soft voice.

“What? Can’t hear you if you mumble, Princess.” The voice called back down, and Link sighed, shaking his head. Dark… he looked up, thinking. Dark had acted so stoic throughout the time he’d known Link, but this childish behavior was reminding him of something that seemed so familiar. It was as if the memory had been misplaced instead of lost.

“Could you toss something down? For us to use to climb?” Link called back up, his blue eyes darting around in the darkness, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to their illegal actions.

Dark sighed but complied, albeit hesitantly, but tossed down something that consisted of a chain and a strange claw at the end.

“It’s a Claw Shot,” he called down. Link nodded, knowing what to do. He held on to the chain above the “claw” tightly and grabbed on to Zelda with his free arm.

“Ready!” He called up to Dark, and, a button press later, the two were shooting up the side of the building and into the ventilation shaft.

As they reached the top, Dark grabbed on to them both, pulling them upright and keeping them from falling roughly eight stories back to the cold concrete.

“We’re lucky this place is so big,” Sheik said, looking around at the walls. “We could just walk on in…”

“Which is exactly what we’re going to do,” Dark said, stepping away from Link to look down the shaft. It’s gently sloping “floor” looked sturdy enough to walk on. He stepped out, one foot at a time, down the opening, gesturing for the others to follow. Soon enough, the entrance opened into an expanse of metal beams shooting across the ceiling in a cross pattern.

Quietly, Byrne and Sheik advanced past Dark, walking in crouches across each one. Link watched in horror as Byrne slipped and, as he was falling, reached out with his left hand. The prosthetic shot off suddenly, gripping the bar, and pulled him back up.

The two silently made their way to the other side, where a ladder was safely waiting for them.

“… What the hell…?” Link asked, cerulean eyes wide. Dark stretched slightly before sighing.

“We’re no ninjas, but I think we could get across there…”

“ _No,_ ” Link protested, “we _couldn’t._ Not unless we want to plummet to our death!”

“Sheesh, Link, you’ve never been afraid of heights before,” Dark mumbled before crouching down on his hands and knees. He was taking a different approach to making his way across the thin rafters.

“Come on. If you guys fall, I want to be able to catch you, you know.”

Slowly, Link and Zelda lowered themselves down, crawling slowly after Dark. Link felt himself trying to focus on anything but the many exhibits below him, ready to aid in killing him if he were to fall… he would hit the ground with bone-crushing force if he couldn’t –

“Like what you see?” He heard Dark say jokingly, and realized with a start that he was staring at the pale teen’s behind…

“No, I don’t actually.”

“Sorry to disappoint, then,” Dark chuckled before catching himself and plastering his perpetual scowl back on his face. In Link’s head, an echoing laugh sounded, unmistakably Dark’s voice although Link had never heard the teen laugh without restraint.

Finally, the three made it to the other side of the room and Zelda and Link followed Dark down the ladder carefully but quickly. Once they reached the ground, the two dramatically breathed twin sighs of relief.

“The Master Sword is in the ‘Hero’s Exhibit’,” Byrne informed as soon as the three touched the ground. “We should have entered from the other side.”

“Or, we could just walk along and make our way to the other side. Simple. They don’t open for another thirty minutes.” Zelda said, sighing and starting towards the hallway. Link jogged to catch up along with Sheik, and Dark meandered behind, glancing over his shoulder at Byrne, who seemed to be examining the Lokomo exhibit with extreme interest.

“I will catch up with you all later…” The teacher mumbled, as if in a daze. Dark shrugged and followed after Sheik and Link, who were still jogging to keep up with Zelda’s brisk pace.

Despite Zelda’s quick solution, it took twenty minutes for the four to make it across the museum. There seemed to be no maps or signs anywhere in sight, and each hallway they tried ended in five minutes of straight walking, only to turn left or right and find a dead end.

“No good…” Sheik mumbled, looking around. “They’re letting people in right about now.”

Dark turned to look as a crowd of small children ran in, shouting about getting to see the Master Sword. “Children have the best sense of direction, some say…” Dark trailed off, watching as a small child begged a parent for one of the many long, green hats on display.

 The four followed surreptitiously behind the children until they were led to a large room with only one exhibit and a whole wall full of pictures and murals. Underneath it was a golden plaque, simply engraved as, “The True Master Sword.”

“This… this is going to be complicated…” Zelda mumbled, looking at the ten-foot display case. The Master Sword was encased completely including the sacred ground and pedestal it was last placed in.

Link’s blue eyes flashed and he took a step forward, glancing back at Dark. “This is it?”

“In the flesh,” Dark responded quickly, appraising the blade. “Still good as new.”

“So… If the sword accepts me… I’m the Hero?”

One side of Dark’s mouth lifted and dropped. “Yes, Link.” Cerulean eyes closed for a second.

“What if I don’t remember anything?” Crimson eyes flashed with pain.

“Then… you’re still _Link_ … but the past Hero’ll be lost forever.” Dark sighed, looking away, and Link took a few more steps towards the sword. Turning suddenly, Link looked Dark straight in his ruby eyes.

“You called me ‘Link.’”

A dark eyebrow raised, and, startlingly, Link noticed that it did not match his white hair. “So?”

“You haven’t called me by my name before, that’s all.” Ignoring Dark’s incredulous glare, Link turned and reached for the glass, pressing his hand to it. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard, before the sound of shattering glass alerted them all. The glass in front of Link’s palm was completely intact, but glass fell all around them in a halo, slicing their exposed skin.

When the shower finished, Link dared a glance at the ceiling, the ceiling now exposed to the open air and morning glow of the outside world.

“ _How had the room emptied so suddenly?_ ”, Link could only think. A few seconds ago, there were children running in glee, pointing at the pictures. A mother trailed behind, her gentle smile gracing her face when one of her young children said, “When I grow up, I wanna be a hero!”

The next second, thousands of images flooded Link’s mind, bombarding him with knowledge that compressed his heart. He was suffocating, drowning, his lungs filling before ceasing to work. He was forgetting who he was and becoming who he had been.

Vertigo, something he’d experienced only in dreams, hit him hard, an assault on his senses though the cold glass of the container was still pressed against his palm and Dark’s even breathing was still sounding to his right.

His heartbeat, pounding in his ears already increased, _Link!_ He heard a shout. But the feeling of vertigo passed and something else flooded through his veins. A warm feeling… not happiness, though. Much stronger than happiness… something that caressed him and wiped out all other feelings.

He felt a corner of his mouth pull up. He knew that voice… “Dark…”

“Shh, Link, don’t speak!” A softly muttered swear and then the warmth was gone, replaced by something else.

“Dark… I…”

“I said shut up, damnit!”

Why was Dark yelling at him? The air was so nice… no one could be angry right now! But, Link thought otherwise as he tried to draw a breath through his nose to smell the warmth.

Something was there… his mouth, too. He coughed, to clear whatever substance was blocking his air, the air that _had_ to hold such a soft scent…

And he coughed, and coughed… but it kept coming, that blockage, that horrid blockage, and he opened his eyes to look around, and he saw Dark’s head, facing away from him, and he saw the crimson smudges on the ground, and he saw the worry in Dark’s pure ruby eyes, and he saw Dark’s lips move in surprise, and he saw… a sword, as dark as night…

In his chest.

And he heard an anguished cry, one beyond description. “LINK!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Link is launched into a state of confusion as his memories return, and no one knows what is happening.  
> Sorry if this chapter is confusing. I remember it being a pain to write.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo!  
> Thanks so much for the feedback and the kudos! I love you all!  
> Happy new year!

The world around them was silent as Link stared at the sword on the other side of the glass. He examined it closely, closing his eyes and opening them periodically. One of the children in the room shrieked suddenly with laughter and Link flinched.

“Mommy!” The kid shouted, “When I grow up, I wanna be a hero!”

That seemed to set it off for Link and suddenly, the teen’s knees grew weak. Dark took a step forward and dove towards Link when he could no longer support himself. Dark grabbed Link quickly before he could touch the cold tile, but Link’s left hand was still outstretched to touch that glass that separated him from the rest of his memories.

 “Link?” He asked, shaking the nearly unconscious teen, furrowing his brow as Link’s unfocused blue eyes rolled up to examine him.

“Dark…” Dark shushed him, trying to situate the limp body in his arms so that he could stand. Turning, he gestured for Zelda and Sheik to come closer, but instead they rushed at him, struggling to remove Link from his custody.

“Let him go, Shadow!” Sheik demanded, reaching to step towards Dark. Zelda stood in front of Sheik, her arm out protectively.

“Calm, Sheik. Dark doesn’t mean any harm!” She turned to stand in front of Dark, who was looking increasingly agitated. He narrowed his crimson eyes at the Sheikah, frowning.

“What’s your problem?!” He growled, ignoring Zelda altogether.

“My problem is you, Shadow!” He shouted, and Zelda gasped, taking a step back. Her blue eyes unfocused quickly and pain crossed her face.

“Dark…” She whispered, frowning. “You… why…”

A shadowy look passed over Dark’s face as he realized what was happening. They were remembering… and they knew. They knew what he’d done. Voices swarmed in his head, shouting at him, calling _him_ the betrayer, calling _him_ the enemy.

 _Shut up!_ He thought at them, shaking his head and glaring back at Sheik.

“What did _you_ do, Sheikah? What did you do to stop this?”

Sheik spluttered for a second before laughing. “Really? You’re going to tempt me into answering _that?”_

The voices in his mind started again, at the sound of Sheik’s anger and the feeling of Link stirring.

“Dark… I…” Link mumbled, but it was to deaf ears.

“I said shut up, damnit!” He shouted to the suspicions pawing away at his frayed mind. Sheik and Zelda jumped, their eyes widening. Link, despite his state of confusion, seemed startled as well. Dark growled at the two and they both took a step back, suddenly afraid. In a swift motion, he slung Link over one of his shoulders and used his free hand to feel the glass covering the Sacred Blade.

Concentrating hard, he summoned something around himself, covering both him and Link…

“Oh dear, is he alright?” the mother from earlier spoke in a worried tone. She seemed oblivious to the dark aura surrounding the Hero’s shadow and ran right up to him, fussing over Link’s prone form. The boy squirmed and began to choke, coughing frantically. His eyes flew open and he searched her face before gagging again. “He’s choking! Put him down!”

Dark glanced over his shoulder at the slight woman, growling. “Get out of here if you want to keep your life.” His ruby eyes were cold and she stumbled back, hands flying over her mouth. She spluttered something that sounded like an apology before running and ushering her children out of the room as quickly as possible.

“Why, mommy?”

“Because that man is dangerous!” The words stuck somewhere in Dark’s chest, but he ignored him.

“Hurry it up over there!” He shouted at her, ignoring the pure fear in her eyes. He turned his glare back to Sheik and Zelda. “Are you going to stand there and be useless or are you going to grab that sword?!”

“Neither,” A voice sounded from behind Dark, and he turned to see Byrne, not the teacher but the warrior. Red lines formed beneath his eyes as he glared at Dark, his expression covered by a wrap around his mouth. Link muttered what sounded like a weak, “no…” of pain, but Dark decided to pay no mind to either, instead using the dark power he’d gathered to shatter the glass casing. Taking the sword in hand, he yanked it out of the pedestal, pleased to know that it did not reject him.

He watched as the Triforce on his hand glowed, resonating with the sword and the Triforce on Link’s hand.

Link coughed again and began to fight against Dark’s hold more until finally, the taller teen was forced to drop him. Gripping the fabric over his chest, Link glared at him.

“What are you _doing?_ ” He asked in a hard voice that neared a growl. “I thought I told you not to toss me around like a doll.”

The change in his sapphire eyes was shocking as he stood up, brushing himself off and taking not of his clothes. He examined the room, narrowing his eyes as Sheik moved into view.

“Sheik,” he said, his voice still firm. “Why are you here?”

“Uh…” Sheik’s aggressive demeanor changed instantly and his snarl fell from his face. “You don’t remember…?”

Looking back at Dark, Link frowned. “Shadow Link?” Link asked, eyeing him openly, taking note of his hair.

Dark opened his mouth to respond but was almost beyond words. “Uh… you were right the first time… it’s just Dark.”

Link frowned, thinking, before closing his eyes and raising his hand to his forehead. He bit his lip, scrunching his face more, too deep in thought to notice the confused stares.

“He’s situating himself,” Byrne explained, examining Link. “The memories of his past lives drowned out his current thoughts. Soon enough he’ll remember you, Dark.”

“And when he does, my job’s done.”

Byrne pursed his lips beneath the stole covering his face. “Why do you wish to punish yourself like such, Dark? You blame him for your pain when truly you are bringing it upon yourself.”

Dark frowned and looked away.

Finally, after a few moments of silence, Link looked up, his sapphire eyes dull but focused. “I… I think I remember, now.” He whispered, turning his head away from prying eyes. “I don’t need to touch the sword.” His eyes darted up and around before settling comfortably at his feet.

“What do you remember? And know?” Zelda asked quietly, leaning forward.

“I… I remember what happened… what happened last, before this life.” He spared a small, flickering glance at Dark. “And… I know that I’m going to be sick if I don’t get home. Now.”

“Yeah…” Zelda said shakily in the silence, avoiding Dark’s steady, unfocused ruby eyes and Sheik’s knowing gaze. She walked with Link past Byrne, whom Link was also eyeing cautiously. “Let’s go home.”

~X~

For the fifth time that night, Link awoke in a cold sweat, running to the bathroom and yanking his shirt up to examine his chest. The smooth, toned skin was unscathed… there wasn’t even a scratch to show for the injuries he’d sustained in past lives.

Pale, sweaty hands gripped the edges of the sink in front of him and he stared at their unscarred, soft surfaces. Bile rose impatiently in his throat but he swallowed it, deciding that getting sick again was only going to make his situation worse.  His arms shook as his hands gripped the porcelain of the sink tighter and his whole body bent forward.

It was too hot in there… Link carefully loosened his fingers and reached for the handle of the sink, holding one hand beneath the faucet. A slip of his shaky hand was all it took to send the handle to “hot”. Instantly, the scalding water poured out onto his hand, something that had never happened to him before.

Barely suppressing a shout of pain and a curse, Link pulled his hand from under the water and pulled the faucet over to the “cold” position. He stared at the water pouring from the faucet untrustworthily for a moment before hesitantly allowing the water to once again flow over his hand.

Slowly, he brought a handful of water up to his face and washed it over his clammy skin, feeling his breath speed at the feeling.

In a fit, he pulled his shirt off and looked at his chest in the mirror. Where was the stab wound? The sword Dark swore to bury him with? The… Dark. Thinking the name sent tremors down Link’s spine. Would sixteen lifetimes overrule one lifetime of betrayal? Dark had lied to him… his whole life. Every kiss, every caress was leading up to Dark’s sudden act of hatred.

Link’s breath came in pants, reliving his final memories as a hero.

His first time reliving the memory was confusing… bits from the present mingled with bits from the past and created a disorienting experience. He could have sworn to the Goddesses that he was choking, that the sword was jutting clear from his heart, two black wings expanding from the hilt. Unmistakably, it was Dark’s sword that had ended him but it was Dark’s warmth that had surrounded him.

It was Dark’s voice murmured, after he was laid on the ground. It was Dark’s voice that had asked, “Link… can you hear me?” And when he’d begged for Dark not to touch the blade, Dark had answered, “Never, Link.” And pressed his lips to Link’s, ignoring the blood, and held his hand, and looked into his eyes until ruby vision faded to black.

It was Dark who’d whispered, “Smile, Link…” after his vision had failed him and his heart was close to following.

And he did. Why? There was too much missing, too many holes in his mind. What killer had such kind eyes and spoke quietly to his victim? No killer was kind and Dark was no killer.

Link slipped. His bare foot found no purchase on the tile made slippery by his mistake and he found himself crashing to the floor, his muscles still shaky. There was no way he could force himself to stand up at this rate, let alone turn the water off, clean, and go back to bed quietly. He’d probably already alerted his guests…

“Link? Link, are you alright?” A soft voice called into his room, accompanying the telltale shuffle of feet across carpet and a door being opened. “I heard something…”

“F-Fine! I’m fine, Zel…” Link cursed the crackly shakiness that was his voice. He bit his lips and cooperated in getting his muscles to cooperate and his frayed nerves to stop buzzing.

It was like the memories of all of his past selves had crowded into his mind and taken over his senses. With each “Link” there was a different feel and remembrance feeling. Each “Link” had moved differently and was a different height—there was no way to figure out which actions matched this body anymore. The only person who had their full memories was Dark, although Byrne and Ghirahim remembered much of the past… as did Zelda and Sheik. Truly, though, only Dark and Zelda had exact memories of the happenings in each life.

No way in hell was he going to ask Dark.

A few seconds passed of emotions. One dark personality was screaming at him to take revenge, one was telling him to let it go, one was chanting for him to pick a fight… one, in the back of his mind, was telling him to put the pieces together before he took action. Another was telling him to talk it out.

Where did rational thinking come in?

Another wave of complete hatred for Dark washed over him. He _had_ to have lied and continued to lie, even now! There was no way Dark remained lucid throughout this process, this process of gaining his past memories once he came of age, like what should have happened to him.

A wave of doubt. Maybe, Dark’s memories came back to him slowly, as Zelda and Sheik’s were. Maybe he didn’t have all of his memories and would never gain them. Maybe he was in the same stage as Byrne and Ghirahim—too late to gain memories of times passed.

“Link, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah!” Link called back, biting down the frustration that was building in his voice. He stood. That was a good sign—his body was listening to him, now. Carefully, he treaded around the wet spot on the bare tile and made his way back to the carpet of his room, sitting down on the bed and burying his head in his hands, oblivious of Zelda leaning in the doorway.

“I’m sure if you were okay, Link, you wouldn’t be acting like that.” Zelda came to sit beside him on the large, elevated bed. Link’s bare back was exposed to the cold air and she reached and grabbed a throw blanket, tossing it over him. He looked up, his sapphire eyes weary.

“I said I was fine…”

“You’re obviously not,” Zelda said, exasperatedly and scowled when Link gave her a half-hearted glare. “Look, Link, I’m not going to fight with you about this. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Link swallowed, trying to clear his throat which was suddenly thick. “I don’t know… I really don’t… it’s like a crowd of minds are screaming at me… I don’t know which one is _me_ …”

“They’re all _you_ Link. I think they’re just waiting for them to accept you.” Link looked up, his eyes confused. Zelda sighed. “You can be dense. Just let them in! Stop trying to block them out, ‘cause Links are stubborn!” Zelda laughed and Link’s eyes went from wide to narrow. He opened his mouth to say something, but Zelda stopped him. “Now, what’s _really_ on your mind? The _big_ problem?”

“Dark.”

That one name wiped the smile from Zelda’s face in a flash and Link’s irritation went to a new place entirely.

“I mean, I know he killed me, but I can’t help but think about _why_ he did it. As… jumpy as Dark’s personality is, I know somewhere that he wouldn’t do that…” The words came in a rush as if he were trying to defend the other teen. “Somewhere, I hate him for doing what he did so suddenly, but I can’t remember what led up to that, you know?” Zelda stared at him for a second before nodding. “I just… what if I attacked him, and he defended himself and stabbed me by accident? What if _I_ was the one who tried to kill him?”

“Link, calm down…” Zelda whispered, putting her hand on the frantic teen’s back. “I’m sure there’s an explanation to all of this. Although I don’t trust Dark, I don’t hate him, either. You love him, and you’re like a brother to me. I can’t help but feel the same.” Link blushed, looking away. “Please, don’t deny it, Link. _All_ of your past selves were in love with him—I’m sure their feelings have carried over.”

Link felt embarrassment crawl up through his gut, but he pushed it down for the sake of the conversation.

“We just need to find out exactly what happened during your last life. Dark loves you too, you know. Just get a little distance from each other. Who knows how many years have passed, and you two didn’t even so much as take a break from each other. No wonder something like that happened.” Link looked over at Zelda, offended.

“I would ne-“

“I’m not saying that you’d cheat on Dark, Link. I’m not saying that it’s your fault this happened, either. Whoever did this and however it happened, it was unorthodox. I’m convinced that this isn’t just a coincidence that your memories, along with mine and Sheik’s, didn’t come back.”

“What?” Link looked up, interested. “What do you mean?”

Zelda laughed humorously. “Did this all appear as a coincidence to you, Link? You have the Triforce of Courage, Sheik and I have split Wisdom, and conveniently, all three of us are having problems with our memories. Ours not as extreme as yours, but you get the point.”

A random wave of nausea hit Link but he swallowed it, taking a deep breath. “So, someone purposefully took our abilities to re-absorb our memories, then?”

“Someone didn’t want us to find out the truth about our previous life, the one before this.” Link bit his lip and straightened up, thinking.

“Someone who was there when it happened, and knew that it affected them.”

“Someone who wanted to stop us ahead of time.”

“Someone named Ganondorf,” They both said at the same time, their voices laced with hatred. Zelda stood up. “I want Sheik’s input on this…”

Link grabbed the hem of her shirt. “No… not tonight. Tomorrow.”

“Any reason why? You two are best friends, you know.”

“I get less and less sure of that every time I see him. He hates Dark, and since we’re, you know… he isn’t exactly warm with me, either.”

Zelda nodded in understanding. “I see,” She sat back down, slowly as to not jostle anything Link had perched on its far end. “We’ll all talk tomorrow, then. And, I want you to talk to Dark, too. See what he remembers. I’m sure it was no coincidence that he was left with his memories.”

“You still don’t think he’s on our side.” Link didn’t bother phrase it in a question—the answer was obvious enough.

“I don’t, not after what happened earlier. He threatened that woman’s life. Although I’m sure he meant nothing by that, that’s not something he would do.”

“You’re right… Dark always took the bold way of doing things, but he never used intimidation on innocent bystanders.”

Zelda sighed, leaning back on the headboard. “There’s something on Dark’s mind, too. I’m sure he’s having as much trouble with his memories as you are. No one should be able to take in all of that knowledge in such a short amount of time.”

Link thought for a few seconds. “How long do you think Dark had his memories?”

“Long enough to plot with Ghirahim and Byrne, but not long enough to do anything before recently. It must hurt for him to be around you…”

“And know I don’t remember a thing about him. I know, I’ve thought about that, too.” Link finished her sentence quickly and let his sapphire eyes drift shut. “That’s another matter, though. Go back to bed, Zelda.”

The blonde girl took a deep breath, one side of his mouth pulling up. “Are you feeling better, Link?”

“Better than I was, Zel. Good night.”

“Good night.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! If you want me to be completely honest, I've forgotten about this and my other WIP. Honestly.   
> I haven't had time to revise this chapter, so this is a direct copy over from the original. Hopefully I'll have time to go back and get this story up to speed.  
> Thanks for your patience and here is chapter five of Memories of the Past!

The white-haired—but truly dark-haired—teen sat at the entrance of the museum, crimson eyes shining in the darkness. Link was on his mind. He blinked frantically, trying desperately to ignore the stinging in and around his eyes, and thought only of the past, the good past, before time tore them apart.

Today, especially, reminded him of one event that, truly, he'd never forget.

He and the Hero were on an especially important mission, one that could have meant life or death. Bokoblins, remnants of the past enemies, were running rampant, flashing their fancy undergarments and stealing important objects, such as the Princess's ocarina. Upon hearing this, the hero had launched into action, dragging Dark with him across Hyrule and searching, fruitlessly, for the ocarina.

"You don't understand, Dark Link," The hero murmured, still uncomfortable with simply calling him "Dark" and very uncomfortable with traveling with him.

"You're right. I don't understand why you're searching Hyrule in search of an ocarina, especially one that lost its powers hundreds of years ago." The Hero's eyes flashed and Dark could tell he struck a nerve. "What's wrong, Hero? Still fuzzy around the edges? Don't remember the power that piece of wood held?"

"Dark, I told you, this is our main quest right now."

"The main quest, right now, is finding out where your memory is sealed."

"You are selfish." Link frowned childishly, though he was utterly serious. "We have defeated Ganon, we have cleansed Hyrule, what more do I need to do? You keep sealing memories away in hopes that one of me—one of my ancestors—will be stupid enough to take them all up and remember whatever life you used to share with one of the heroes. They might, might remember the love, but with that memory will come each and every moment of my life in which I've felt nothing for you. You are my best friend, Dark Link, nothing less—no, never anything less. My brother, if I were to go so far—but you are nothing more. I love you, but I am not in love with you. Give it up, Dark Link. That life you used to share with him is lost. Your love is lost."

"What life I used to share with you, Link! The memories of your ancestors are rightfully yours. Take them!"

"I will leave them! I am not the Hero of Time, I am not the Hero of Twilight—Dark Link, I am not him. Even if another takes up the memories of whatever love you used to share, it will not be him! It will never be him! He will be plagued by my memories as well, telling him not to be swayed. Not to bow. His common sense, hopefully, will have stayed."

Dark blinked, astonished at Link's anger, and shook his head. "Why are you so against this, Link? What if the Hero that does take the memories is him?"

"I am against this because of the pain, Dark Link. What I have felt of the memories you have stored up are pure, innocent times tainted with the tint of betrayal. They have mixed, whatever did in a past life. You wronged your lover, Dark, and it is the overpowering memory that will keep you from happiness. Move on. You will only end up hurting yourself."

"I'll hurt myself if I miss my chance of getting him back!"

"If you do get him back, you will have killed whatever person lived in that body before given that burden."

Dark shook his head again, not stopping this time until he was back in the present, sitting against the cold brick face of the building. Hating that a good memory turned into a vivid, evil one, he stood, slowly, eyes unfocused, and walked towards the pull, the pull of something greater than he was. That memory was plaguing him, and he would destroy the source. He would kill all evidence of the nightmare... he would wipe it from existence, even in his own mind.

It is him… it's him this time….

A copy of Hyrule Historia was slapped down roughly on the coffee table in Link's living room before it was opened and promptly dissected by three of the people who knew more about Hyrule than anyone else did.

"It seems…" Sheik murmured, after a second of staring at Link's page in Hyrule Historia. "None of the Heroes share the same memories, save for a few. It looks like the 'hardened' Heroes, in a sense, are plagued by the past. These heroes also seem to be distanced, in a sense, from Dark Link."

"I can understand that," Link mumbled, frowning. "I don't feel like cuddling up to Dark like he seemed to expect me to."

"Can we say this was an experiment gone wrong, then?" Zelda chimed in, staring at some text that highlighted herself and her many carnations, including her first as Hylia. "Whoever sealed your memories seemed to be testing, in a way, your aversion to Dark if you did regain your memories."  
"It seems that whoever tested this theory was a sad scientist, indeed," Sheik mumbled. "Wouldn't it be wiser to separate the traumatizing memories and leave the good, if there were any? To set yourself in someone's mind, manipulate them, you would have to make them feel emotion towards you." Link knew, immediately, that Sheik and Zelda were dead to the world at this point, instead thinking deeper into their past intellects. Their past selves, rather than the memories of their past selves…

"Guys," Link said, wincing as their hardened eyes turned on him. "What if memories aren't all that matter? I mean, I know memories make you who you are and stuff, but what about just general, imbedded personality? Whoever sealed my memories may have been trying to make me relive all of my past lives, but I'm still me, you know?"

Zelda blinked at him but Sheik nodded in understanding, frowning. "I believe I understand. Because the memories were not directly affecting you in any way—you know they happened rather than lived them—your personality still remains intact. It is impossible to recreate a Hero, is that what you're trying to say?"

"Exactly…"

Sheik's eyes widened as he thought, Zelda catching up a second later. "It's what the goddesses have been trying to do since the beginning of time… this person is trying to do what they couldn't do."

"That can't be right," Zelda mumbled, putting her head in her hands. "Unless that person has devised some master plan to keep their own memories perfectly intact while transferring their own personality, there is no way they can keep themselves, either. Without even attempting to seal memories, you get an entirely different person like Ghirahim and Byrne are. They have their memories, but…"

Sheik nodded, closing his copy of their social studies textbook. "Sealing the memories, like someone's done in our case, will result in a similar person who is not the original, but very close. My guess is that, over the years, the similarities had spread themselves thin, making it so that this Link," he gestured to Link with a pale hand, ignoring Link's unnerved glare, "has no relation to the original Link besides bits and pieces of their appearance, and their sense for justice."

Startling Sheik and Zelda, Link chuckled lowly at Sheik, his blue eyes suddenly shining. "Justice…" he murmured bitterly. "You use it so loosely. I… think I've remembered more now. Yes… defiantly more… Sheik, tell me, what is justice?"

"What is right…?" The blonde's voice was quiet, and he coughed and continued, his voice more confident. "Justice is righteousness, fair dealing."

"Which party?"

"What?"

"To which party is the justice given, from which party is giving the justice? Which party is arising the need for justice?"

"The party giving the justice," Sheik said, picking up on Link's sudden train of thought, trying to stop it in its tracks, "is the Hero. The party receiving the justice are the people of Hyrule. And the party causing the need for justice is—"

"Ganondorf. Demise, Ghirahim, Vaati," Link shook his head, thinking. "Zant, Yuga, for Nayru's sake, Byrne, Cole…" Zelda sat forward, worrying at the increasingly distressed look on Link's face. Her blue eyes met shiny ones as Link continued. "Dark… Dark Link! My shadow, meant to fight me, meant to kill me! He served his purpose! He waited, he waited until my guard was down, he waited until I trusted him, and then he brought justice and took me out of this world, only to be born again and relive. To relive him."

"Link, what are you saying?" Zelda struggled to keep her voice calm and even, not wanting to give away any distress to fuel his own.

"I'm saying… I'm saying that, somewhere along the line, the Hero met his end, I met my end, at the mercy of a pitch black blade and merciless crimson eyes that mirrored my own. That mirrored my shadow's."

Sheik stood up. "There's nothing new about this knowledge, Link. Is it bothering you differently, now?"

"Yes… I believed, truly, that Dark was no killer. I really did…" Sadness crept into Link's voice, but he stood to stand, looking down at the shorter blonde. "But, for justice, for Dark's own justice, he constantly killed whatever Hero stood already inside of my mind. They all loved him, all but one. No… that one… some didn't. Some did… but the one knew…"

"All but one?"

"The one who knew the secret!" Link shouted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He knew more than the others, which is why he couldn't bring himself to love Dark! He couldn't fall in love with that shadow! He knew so much more, so much more…" Link's blue eyes became clouded as he sunk back down into the sofa, covering his face with his arms. The teen seemed to curl in on himself, the stress of whatever he was reliving consuming him. It manifested in the form of tremors that rolled down his back and shook his whole body.

Zelda, cautious and shocked by Link's sudden outburst, leaned over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, talking quietly. When it was certain that he couldn't hear her, she looked up at Sheik.

"I want you to find Dark."

"You want me to find Dark, so that I can bring him here and revoke memories that would scar Link permanently?"

"Sheik, I believed that Link truly loves Dark—"

"You believe that a few, previous Heroes—the narcissistic ones, I should say—fell in love with their own shadows, their own dark reflections. Based on what Link has told us, we don't know how many Hero's actually loved Dark. A few at most actually felt something. I can safely assume some even refused to take their ancestor's memories."

"Refused?"

"Yes, refused. Just as Link could have easily refused Byrne's 'field trip' to the museum. I can also draw the conclusion that Dark was manipulating Byrne into that."

"What about Ghirahim's sparring lesson? The one Link told us about in the car?"

"I do believe that was purely Ghirahim's choice. I did not know the man personally, so I cannot tell. I did not know Byrne's former self, either, but I know enough to say that he was being rather spontaneous. A well thought-through plan, but an unprompted one nonetheless."

Zelda shook her head, as if refusing to believe this. "Dark sealed Link's memories, not the goddesses."

"The goddesses have gifted us with wisdom, and wisdom comes from experience. We have enough memories to allow us wisdom. Courage does not take anything but fearlessness that comes straight from the heart. Link's courage is something that does not need to be gifted in the mind, meaning that Link should receive no knowledge from the goddesses."

"Meaning that Dark sealed Link's memories…"

"To revive his lost lover."

"The one that he killed? What if the Link that loved Dark the most was killed by Dark, too? And that's what's keeping those memories so strong…"

"Perhaps, Zelda," Sheik said, standing up and moving towards the door. He placed his hand gently on the cold handle, thinking. "No better person to ask than the man himself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else stalking Breath of the Wild? Or is it just me?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!   
> So this chapter's a little hectic and plot heavy, but if you squint real hard there's a tiny semblance of sense. I think.   
> Direct continuation of the last chapter, and since it's been so long you might have to go back and read that last little weird and very confusing bit of the last chapter.   
> Got some overly wordy dialogue and heavy angst to prep for. This story just took the dark turn (pun intended) that everyone was waiting for!

No one else moved.

Sheik’s confusion was clear, but it increased tenfold when he turned to see Link staring intently at the table.

“Never mind,” Link said quietly. “I don’t know what came over me.” And while this was more like the Link that Sheik knew, it was still concerning. Link continued. “I don’t… it was like someone was telling me what to say. And I agree… but I feel like… that wasn’t me. Talking just now, it wasn’t me.”   

“Like there’s a different person taking control of your thoughts,” Zelda provided helpfully. Sheik looked at them again, this time allowing his confusion to show.

“What?”

His sister looked up at him, folding her hands on top of her legs. “Each one of our incarnations, so to speak, seem to have their own…”

“Personalities?” Link’s voice was a quiet suggestion of a whisper.

“Sort of.” Sheik continued to look confused, and Zelda tried again. “It’s like, multiple people telling you how to act, how to talk, what to say. It’s hard to keep and remember what you want to say and how you want to act.”

Link nodded in agreement. “And it’s frustrating. Sometimes I’ll feel like _me,_ and then suddenly, I’m this battle hardened warrior. I have this hatred for Dark, but I don’t remember why it’s there, and the words coming out of my mouth are…”

“Sheik,” Zelda interrupted Link, as he trailed off. “When have either of us ever known Link to say stuff like ‘the mercy of a pitch black blade and merciless red eyes’? It doesn’t sound like him at all. But it does sound like a Link I once knew…”

“In another life,” Link finished, leaving Sheik to stare at them blankly.

“Is that’s how it’s working for you?” The red eyed teen asked. “My memories are like remembering a dream you had a few nights ago… You know the events, how they happened, why they happened. I don’t feel… another Sheik.”

“That’s probably because you’ve taken a piece of my memories for yourself.” Zelda was quiet. “We were once the same person, you know.”

Sheik’s mouth hardened into a line. “If your memories came back, why, suddenly did these ‘past selves’ appear? This seems ridiculous to me.” His voice was frustrated, almost angry, and Link and Zelda could feel something wrong.   
               

“Sheik,” Link said, his voice low. “Earlier, I got upset. And I felt another Link talking. He knows something that the others don’t. There are eighteen of them inside of me, Sheik. There’s only one other Sheik inside of you.”

Sheik’s face still betrayed the confusion he felt, but he nodded in understanding. “So your outburst was the other Link? Are you suggesting we bring whoever that was back again?”

Link grimaced at the outright disgust in Sheik’s voice, but shook his head anyway. “He’s the one who knows what happened, so he probably knows why we’re all regaining our memories all of a sudden.”

“The hero usually regains his memories before a quest,” Zelda’s voice cut in quietly. “He needs the knowledge to remember how to defeat Ganon… I guess it’s an unfortunate burden that every other memory comes along with it.”

“So if we’re suddenly regaining our memories…”

“Ganon’s probably on his way.” Zelda’s voice was quiet. “I feel like if we talk to Dark about this we’re not going to get a straight answer. Whatever it is this one Link knows, Dark knows it too. It’s like he let us start regaining his memories and then vanished.”

Link shook his head. “So if Ganon or whoever really is coming, does this mean Dark’s not going to try to help?”

“Maybe his way of helping is preparing us…” Zelda ignored the unpleasant expression that crossed Sheik’s face. “Link, do you think you could…?” She was hesitant but Link nodded anyway.

“Find out which Link knows? I can try. I think you’ll have to give me some time alone though. I guess he’s the only one who could tell us the truth.”

~X~

When they left, Link eyed his phone and considered dialing someone who would know how to pick out a specific memory for answers. Ghirahim seemed like a solid bet, considering he was the only one who seemed solidly comfortable in his body with both his current and past self.

His self-proclaimed mentor did not answer, however, and a call to Byrne proved the history teacher’s ignorance. That left Dark.

When he dialed, the call went straight to his voicemail. Great.

When he looked back at his home screen, he quickly discovered _why_ he’d not received a response. It was a Tuesday.

When he got to the school, he found himself entering through in the furthermost corner of the school near Ghirahim’s classroom. He checked the time to make sure he wouldn’t enter during class and knocked on the teacher’s door.

“Why Link!” the teacher exclaimed when he opened it. “You were the last one I’d expect to turn up here!” And welcomed Link into the classroom. “Let me start off by saying this—as far as the Headmaster’s concerned, you’ve left the province because of a sick family member. Please don’t get caught in the hallway.”

Link was surprised that Ghirahim would’ve taken the time to cover for him. “Thanks, Mr. Ghira-“

“No no, no need to thank me. What do you need, Skychild?”

“I need to know how to sort out my memories. I need to get answers from them, but I…”

“Ahh yes, you don’t know who’s talking and what they’re talking about.” The teacher stalked towards the door and locked it as he spoke, and once he was sure no one could see them or listen in on their conversation, he sat on his desk and crossed his legs. “Can I share a little secret with you, Skychild? A short history lesson, perhaps?”

Link nodded and sat on top of the desk closest to Ghirahim.

“I don’t like to brag, but I would say that you and I both go back a long, long time. Before there was Hyrule, or any human on the ground here, where we live today, you inhabited a village in the sky. Your second incarnation, I believe, lived here. And my first. It was a time long before your beloved shadow.

I was blinded by the thought of something greater, and I allowed Demise to enter the world through my actions. I let myself perpetuate the return of evil, through a search for the new goddess’s power. Without my ignorance and evildoings, your tragic saga would have ended there.”

The teacher stared off towards the closed window and drawn shades. “But I suppose there’s no fun in that. It took me many, many years to recognize that the crazy dreams I’d had at night were more than disturbing nightmares. I studied extensively, slowly realizing that the events of my dreams were… real. They had happened. And similar events kept happening long after my death. I had to come to terms with the evil side of me, and what he’d done. And I had to take parts of him for myself and leave the rest behind.”

Link was silent, and Ghirahim refocused on the teen. “Link, you will have to take the time to come to terms with each of your past selves. If my theories are correct, many of your past selves did not take the time to do this. They let nightmares and voices haunt them to the grave.”

“So why are my memories suddenly returning now? Of all times?”

“I have two theories. Perhaps another threat is on its way, another Ganon or Demise. Or perhaps, it’s your shadow.”

Link looked up from the spot he’d been staring a hole into. “Dark?”

“When I knew you, in your second incarnation, you were not haunted by the thoughts of a past self. I talked to Byrne, and he, too, did not remember you to be troubled by your past. And Byrne, as an enemy and then an ally, knew that Dark was not around, then. The impending threat, however, was there.”

“So what does that mean?” Link’s brain was whirring, trying hard to understand how these events were all connected.

“It could mean that Dark is the reason you regain your memories. For what reason, I cannot answer you.”

The two sat in silence for a minute before Ghirahim stood up and moved towards the coffee maker he kept in the back of his classroom. “So, Skychild, what are your thoughts?”

“I don’t know,” Link replied honestly. “I have a feeling that one of my past… selves? One of my past selves is trying to tell me something. Earlier today I felt like he completely took over. He was talking through me, almost.”

Ghirahim turned around and stared for a minute before replying. “That is indeed strange. My advice to you is to sit down and listen to what everyone has to say. Don’t try to respond. Remember, they’re just jumbles of memories. They are not free thinking.”

“What does that mean?”

“They can only speak to you with what has already happened. My past self harbors a hatred for Demise, his master, who betrayed him. When I speak with him, our interactions are clouded with that hatred. They are merely ghosts caught in the past. They know nothing of the present.”

“So I shouldn’t try to ask them questions about what to do?”

“You can. Sometimes past experiences can be applied to the present. But for the most part, they’ll whisper snapshots of their takes on the past.”

Link thought about this for a minute. “And what if… how do I say this?” Ghirahim cocked a nonexistent brow at him. “What if… what if one Link lived. And the next Link lived too but remembered bits and pieces from the last Link. And Link number two gives me a different take on Link number one’s life. So now I have three different things to go off of?”

Ghirahim’s wide eyes assessed Link for a minute, blinking owlishly. “That… is quite the conundrum. You would have two versions of the same story, both tainted by different… feelings.”

“Yeah. So I wouldn’t know how to discern…”

“Well, that is where dear Zelda comes in. You can line the stories up—“

“But what if she goes through the same thing?”

Ghirahim was quiet again, now stirring sugar into his coffee. “Would you like a cup?” he offered Link, and the teen accepted. They sat in silence while Ghirahim mulled over the question. “I believe the answer lies with your shadow. He’s somehow managed to live however many lives he’s lived as the same person. Each incarnation picks up exactly where the last left off, since he is a creature created and not born.”

“What does that mean?”

“I do not… perhaps… in each timeline, he was created by Ganon. A mix of dark magic, excuse my pun, and the idea that someone similar to you could match your strength and skill. I’ve never thought about why he would be here.”

“So then why—“ the bell rang, effectively cutting Link off mid-sentence.

“My, I guess we lost track of time. Don’t get caught Skychild.” Ghirahim walked him towards the door and scooted him out. “I wish you luck with your memories.”

~X~

Different feelings and voices swirled around in his head, eighteen people talking at once and vying for his attention. He sat alone with them in his room and felt his own body bend under the weight of their feelings.

Link found himself sat on his bed, with his door closed and curtains drawn, trying to lose himself in the buzzing of his own mind. He tried not to reflect too deeply on the conversation he’d not finished with Ghirahim, and instead thought about what the teacher told him about listening to his past. He searched for the one he knew had the answers.

The angry voice that’d spoken through him was nowhere to be found.

His legs were aching and his back protested his position, but he kept his eyes squeezed shut against the increasingly loud thoughts, and sent his own thoughts into the void. After a few hours, he finally got a response to his questions, and his resolve was renewed.

So he focused hard, and one by one he managed to single out each voice in the fog of his brain.

 _I still love him. Please don’t hurt him._ One said to him, and he responded that’d he’d try his best. The voice echoed, like a memory of something once said, with grief. This Link was inconsolable, and when Link asked about Dark, it faded away.

 _It was his fault._ One growled bitterly, and left the forefront of Link’s mind before he could respond.

And then, there was silence. The one angry Link he’d heard earlier seemed to take hold of his mind, wrapping it in memories. Link felt his body fall from his bed, but when he hit the ground it was soft grass.

The sky was dark.

In front of him stood Link, armored like a warrior but bent and tired. His eyes looked heavy, and when Link stood up, his ancestor paid him no mind.

Neither did Dark, who was wearing nearly similar armor to the warrior, not Zelda, who stood with her own sword gripped tightly in her hand. There was a shield on the ground and the warrior Link didn’t have a sword, and all three people stood and stared at Ganondorf who stood mere feet from scene. The Gerudo man heaved with his hands gripping the sword that protruded from his chest, the Master Sword, but didn’t lose his footing.

Suddenly, Link had moved. When he looked down at his body, he discovered that _he_ was now the warrior Link. His body ached with unimaginable strain and his hands trembled on their own volition. He felt naked without his sword or shield.

“Dark why isn’t he dying?” he heard his own voice ask, but when he looked to Dark the man had no answer. Zelda took a hesitant step forward.

The Gerudo man continued to stand.

Link looked back to Ganon, then to Zelda. From the corner of his eye he could see Dark spinning his blade, ready for another round of battle.

“How are you doing, Link?” Zelda asked him from her spot a few feet away. Before he could respond Dark answered, “He’s not looking too good. I can cover for him.” And moved more between Link and Ganondorf.

Between Link and the Master Sword.

It was surreal for Link, the way he kept being thrown in and out of memories, but the sense of dread that washed over him was very real. They all stood in silence before Ganon spoke, coughing out his words.

“I didn’t create your shadow, Link, for just one purpose.” They all froze. Dark slowly lifted his sword up towards the enemy, his shield sat firmly on his left arm. “It has many uses. I figured if it couldn’t dispose of you in the temple, it could at least be my backup plan.”

“My name is not ‘ _it’_ ,” Dark growled, and Ganon coughed out another rattling laugh.

“You don’t get to name yourself, my poor creature. Your creator gets that pleasure.”

Link failed to notice, at first, the way Ganon’s triforce glowed. When the man raised a sickly green hand, it was too late for him to respond to the sword that cut through his tunic and scraped across his chainmail.

Dark’s eyes were black with a single piercing red in the center, and his body was loose and under Ganondorf’s complete control. Dark stalked towards him, his expression blank and his face gaunt.

“What are you doing to him?!” he yelled, dodging yet another one of Dark’s lightning attacks.

“Let him go!” He heard Zelda’s voice command in a powerful tone. She retrieved Link’s shield from the ground and attacked the Gerudo man head on. He dodged another slash of Dark’s sword.

His body felt so heavy.

When Dark finally overpowered him, he couldn’t gather the fighting strength in his body to stop him. Zelda and Ganon struggled in a magical battle beside them, while Dark raised his black sword and drove it into the hero below him.

Once. Twice.

All was quiet. Link didn’t have the energy to wonder why the battle beside him had suddenly ended. He stared up at Dark, feeling his eyes grow heavy and a pang of fear to blossom in his chest, but when Dark gripped the sword to remove it again, his whole body surged forward and suddenly they were face to face. Dark’s eyes had returned, and the tears poured from them and their panicked light.

He’d relived this memory before, he realized. He knew how it’d end. Dark would whisper to him, his voice full of apology. And long after the hero would close his eyes for the last time, he would smile. And the sword would remain in his chest.

“Link, can you hear me?” Dark whispered, holding both sides of his face, and he blinked back at his shadow.

“Don’t move the sword,” he rasped, and Dark nodded his head frantically. “I won’t. Goddesses Link, I won’t.” But before Link could close his eyes, Dark’s body lurched forward again and renewed his grip on the sword. And fear and pain like never before surged through the Hero’s body when Dark leaned down to whisper in his ear, before removing the sword from his body. His eyes were black.

_Finally._

_Finally. Don’t you see, Link?_ The warrior whispered in his mind. _Don’t you see?_

When Link sat up, finding his body on the floor and aching, his mind was quiet. And now he was confused.

The memory he’d relived of this scene countless times before was not terrifying. It was shocking, but not traumatic. He’d understood that Dark had no control over his actions and he’d died in Dark’s arms with Ganon dying as well.

So what caused the change from there to here? Why, here, did Dark appear to have wanted to kill him? And Ganondorf was still alive, even after having been impaled by the Sacred Blade. Zelda had been silent… was she killed here, too?

How could two different consciousnesses have the same memory with such different outcomes?

Link stood from the floor on shaky feet and stumbled his way into the bathroom. When he routinely lifted his shirt to check for scars, his hands froze when he saw the dark red lines that protruded from a grotesque epicenter in his chest.

Before he knew what was happening, two pale arms wrapped around his body, and he saw Dark’s face over his shoulder in the mirror.

When he went to scream, Dark raised his fist and brought it down on Link’s head.

His eyes were black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok i just wanna take a moment to thank everyone who's dropped a kudos and commented (I'm so bad about replying to comments but I love all of you and I promise I'll be better about replying) and like honestly. After reading the comments for an impetus to write, I decided to go with the original plot-line I had planned, but when I was writing that last scene with Dark being a lil bit off, I pulled an entirely new plot-line out of nowhere! How about that?   
> Anyway, thanks so much for reading, hope this chapter didn't confuse and/or piss you off too much. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohh, man. Another short chapter but since I'm back on the grind hopefully two chapters in one week makes up for their depressing lengths.   
> This is the plot chapter, so sit back, relax, take it all in. Take a wild guess about what's gonna happen next. Next couple of chapters will have no chill.   
> As to xosugarheartsxo who guessed that we would end up pitying Dark..........

When Zelda and Sheik approached Ghirahim after class, the teacher pretended to be enthralled with the “new” information they brought him. The three discussed the same topics Link had sought answers for, and Ghirahim gave them the same spiel, albeit with little enthusiasm and even less details.

Needless to say, they were not his favorite students.

He’d been intrigued to find that Dark Link already had his memories when he’d followed his instincts to train Link in the art of swordsmanship, and even more interested with the Skychild himself. The two hade fates so deeply intertwined, and stories so complex, that he was absolutely fascinated.

Zelda and Sheik, on the other hand, bored him. There was a left over, lingering bit of resentment for Hylia (which, while it wasn’t his own fault, he applied minimal effort in trying to staunch the feelings) and had absolutely no opinion on Sheik.

To him, Sheik’s existence defied the little logic their current conundrum provided, and was therefore more frustrating to think about than necessary. Why was the Princess of the Hero of Time’s era separated into two separate beings? Why-

He realized why, midway through Zelda’s question about the Grandfather Theory, and sprang up and towards the door.

“Follow me, children!” he said, not bothering to hide the impatience that slipped through. The three rushed down the empty halls of the school towards Byrne’s classroom, and when they entered, Ghirahim went straight towards the teacher’s personal library.

“I would like a book on the Hero of Time,” Ghirahim said calmly while the students behind him tried to catch their breath. “Specifically the Ocarina of Time and the Reversal.”

Byrne frowned but complied, providing Ghirahim with a thick and ancient textbook specifically discussing the Hero of Time, and as they flipped through many pages containing sketches that were eerily similar to the Link they knew today, they landed on a page discussing the solution to defeating Ganondorf and simultaneously restoring time.

“Zelda, my dear,” Ghirahim asked while he and Byrne skimmed the pages of the section, “what do you remember about restoring time with the Ocarina?”

“I… I don’t remember much. I think I…”

“Here it is,” Byrne interjected, and the four gathered themselves around the page Byrne pointed at. It showed a timeline that split in two, with the words, “The Reversal” beneath it.

“She… I… what?” Zelda stuttered, re-reading the passage. “That’s just the Reversal, I mean…”

Byrne tapped a finger on the pages of the book, “I always knew of the Reversal—“

“But it seems someone decided to leave the details of the Reversal out of our history,” Ghirahim finished. He stood up and began to pace, thinking back on Sheik and the timing of Byrne’s existence. If Byrne existed only in a timeline where the world was flooded, but there was no evidence in this land of a flood ever happening. It was in the textbooks as simply a myth, folktales.

“Do you ever think about why Sheik exists?” Ghirahim asks to the silent room. “Why, if Zelda and Sheik were the same person, they exist as two now?”

Sheik stood up from his spot hunched over the textbook and looked Ghirahim in the eye. “What are you saying?”

“You and I both read the same passage, I presume?” Before Sheik could respond, Zelda spoke up.

“He’s saying that when the Reversal happened, two timelines were created. One, where Link defeated Ganon and saved Hyrule, one that lead to the discovery of Termina…” She grabbed the book and flipped back to the section about Termina, “And one that lead to the hero being defeated.”

“I don’t understand, Link was successful in both timelines. One lead to the era of Twilight and the other to the Floods. Are we talking about the Era Without a Hero?”

“No, Sheik look,” Zelda replied pointing at the ancient timeline. “There were three paths. There was no way to fix time _and_ destroy Ganon in all timelines. Link was killed… and…” She flipped to the events after the Reversal, the events of the third timeline, “Ganondorf was always revived, here. And Dark, too. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does,” Ghirahim suggested. “If… within the Reversal, different people played different roles… it makes sense. The Hero, his ever so loyal shadow, and the princess herself are credited with saving Hyrule. That led to The Dark and Twilight Eras. If, in the timeline leading to the Hero’s absence, where the world was flooded to rid Hyrule of evil, the Sheikah existed in place of the princess… that would explain his existence now.

In whatever order, in one timeline was the Sheikah and in the other, the princess. In both, however, the Shadow was loyal.”

They all watched him as he circled around the room once more. “Because two different incarnations of the same person existed in different timelines, they are technically different people. Ganondorf is always Ganondorf, Zelda is always Zelda, even as Tetra, but Sheik is not Zelda, and Ganondorf is not Demise.”

“Which means Link is always Link,” Byrne continued, “but…”

“It is very possible that in the timelines that we study, Dark Link was always a companion to the Hero. But in the Third Timeline, the Timeline that ends with the Last Hero…”

“Dark is not Dark.” Sheik said finally.

The room was silent again.

~X~

Dark found himself on another jog, again early morning. He thought about a conversation he’d had with Byrne, and he thought back on the lie.

He’d told Byrne about “the Byrne” he’d known. He’d never known Byrne. He’d met Tetra and Link, and was killed before he could ever see land again. When he came back, he’d lived the span of the Hero’s life trapped in a room, only to die at the time of the Hero. They’d never met in that timeline.

He thought about lying beside Link on a grassy hill, looking up at the City in the Sky. He’d remembered a tall princess named Midna, and the mirror that she vanished into. They killed Ganondorf together, they traveled the country together. This Link was driven by a single-mindedness that could not be matched. He let himself be haunted by the glimpses of the past he was given, and it scared him. Dark could not comprehend why this Link would wake up suddenly hating him, afraid of him, or why this Link needed to find the Ocarina of Time the two of them had dutifully left in the Hyrule Castle of old.

After they’d fought, countless times about the same topic, he came to the conclusion that his own memory was faulty. It was confusing, the way he appeared in existence with complete feeling memories, he knew there had to be something wrong with the way whatever magic worked on him functioned. Even if he thought he remembered everything… there’d really be no way to know if he’d forgotten… right? He tried his best to rationalize.

So when The Hero of Twilight would wake up in the night, brandishing his sword against “Shadow Link”, fearful and afraid, Dark would blame himself.

Perhaps he’d forgotten an instance where he never broke free of Ganondorf’s hold and hurt the Hero. Maybe he’d forgotten a time where he was an enemy and not an ally, despite the absolute complete memories he was gifted with.

The next hero that followed was bitter. He despised Dark in every way, never calling him anything but Dark Link, never allowing his shadow to leave his sight out of blatant distrust. He couldn’tve been more different than the Hero of Time. They’d shared a bond that rivaled all others, and even in the end when Ganon had taken control of him in order to kill the hero, Zelda had stepped in and fixed all, and the Hero of Time forgave him.

So why did the next heroes suddenly hate him? The Hero of Twilight was kind, and their relationship was peaceful until he was plagued by sudden memories that Dark did not share. In their next encounter, Dark was certain that he’d done something he did not remember.

He kept running, even as the cold early morning air began to chafe his throat. He stopped when he reached a dead end road, sitting with his back to the forest behind it, letting his now-black hair fall in front of his eyes.

He missed Link, _his_ Link. The one that hadn’t yet been clouded by whatever memory happened. If he had _his Link_ back, whatever bitter memories would be forgiven, and they could be like they were when Hyrule was saved and all was well.

And even though he’d heard Link call him by the dreaded name, _“Shadow Link”,_ in the museum, he still had _hope_.

~X~

Sheik exited Byrne’s classroom with his sister, who was shaken and unfocused, her deep blue eyes staring at something he’d never be able to see, something that he’d never be able to focus on.

He wished he could know what she saw, when her memories came back. She’d changed… but not much. She was still Zelda, even with the countless minds layered inside of her own. Her kindness and compassion, her strength… they were all still there. He wished he could say the same for himself.

When he’d received his memories, he’d gotten what felt like two different edits of the same movie. Somewhere, in a memory he’d yet to _see,_ feelings of apprehension for Dark screamed at him whenever he laid eyes on the teen, and something like regret and guilt swallowed his thoughts when this wisp of a memory surfaced. And this feeling was stronger than the feeling of trust that ruled most of the memories he’d received. When he’d seen Link’s final moments as the Hero of Time, before the reversal, he’d understood what had really happened, and that the real enemy was Ganondorf.

But  sometimes, he felt the real enemy was Dark.

If Ghirahim was right, Sheik was wrong, and the real enemy was someone like Dark, but not the teen himself…

Which made him question Dark’s motives.

But, most importantly, it made him question his own.

After he received his memories, he felt changed. He felt colder, letting himself go was nearly impossible, and he felt himself growing apart from Link in a way he’d never thought possible. It was like he and Link barely knew each other now, with Link struggling with his own memories and he himself having no idea what to do about the entire situation. And the sudden need to make the situation better, to make everything alright, was stronger than ever. The frustration was stronger than ever.

The implications of Ghirahim’s discovery were disturbingly scary, but his explanation was the only one that made sense. Still, the question as to why they were suddenly regaining their memories was lost, and when he tried to call his best friend, he received no answer.

He tried again. There was no answer.

“Zelda,” he whispered, mostly to his phone. When he felt his sister’s eyes on him, he continued. “Link’s not answering his phone.”

The two sat together in Sheik’s car, which loitered in the parking-lot behind the school. Zelda sighed. “Let me try. Maybe he’s resting. Don’t worry too much about it.” And when Link didn’t answer Zelda’s call, Sheik felt dread sink in the pit of his stomach followed by frustration. When he searched, he found no source for the fear he felt.

“Sheik, he’s probably asleep! He won’t need us harassing him.”

“Zelda, I think it’s better if we interrupt a nap than if he’s actually in-“

“In trouble? That’s what you were going to say?” When Sheik didn’t reply, Zelda crossed her arms and leveled him with a glare. “Your paranoia about Dark is never ending! Yesterday you couldn’t stop talking about him!”

“I wasn’t even _thinking_ about Dark and you know it!” Sheik felt the frustration growing. His voice broke its usual level tone and when Zelda looked angrier because of it, he, too, got even angrier. “You _know_ how thinking about things too much tires Link out! And we just asked Link to dig around in his mess of a mind! He’s got more to deal with than all of us!”

“That is not true.” Zelda’s voice was level. “I’ve got just as much-“

“No, you don’t. You’re missing things, I’m missing things, heck, now we know that Dark may be missing things. We need to check-“

Zelda’s hands slammed down on the dash in front of them, her whole body shaking. “What do you know?” She said in a broken whisper. “What do you know? You get one set of memories and you start acting wise and aged, but what about the rest of us? I’ve seen things you will never see, and so has Link, and you have the _nerve_ to leave him to deal with this on his own. It’s not just about you, Sheik, it’ll never be just about you.”

“Zel-“

“What about Dark? He’s gotta live with _that_ for the rest of his life! His lives! Until one day he dies for good! He’s got to deal with what he did, and he’s hovering around Link like a lost puppy hoping Link will forgive him. You can see it in his eyes!”

Something came over Sheik, then, and while his vision washed red, he heard his own voice scream, “It was his fault! He wants forgiveness for something he did?!”

His whole body felt _wrong_ , like someone reached inside of him and plucked him out. He was watching himself rage from an outward point, looking down at himself as he shook with the rage of memories that weren’t even there.

And then he came down, and had to face Zelda’s shocked face.

“What.” She whispered.

“I… I don’t know. I see him sometimes, and I remember him doing what he did on purpose. He was under Ganon’s control, and then he wasn’t. But he was different, and when Link was dead he came for me.”

There it was. The memory. The reasons behind the feelings he felt when he woke up in the night after a dream he wasn’t sure he remembered.

“Get out. I’m driving.” Zelda replied curtly, stepping outside of the car and rounding it to stop at the driver’s side. When they were re-arranged, she put the car into gear. “We’re going home. You’re not well.”

And Sheik repressed the feelings he felt as he curled in on himself in the passenger seat, watching the trees of Hyrule roll by outside of his window. His fingers twitched and so did his lips, but he tightened them and ignored the mix of frustration and fear that bubbled around in his body. He found himself stuck between the past and present, watching the trees and thinking about the dark haired man that loved to hide within them.

When he got home, he didn’t notice when the bulbs in the lights blew as he switched them on. He felt and understood Zelda’s side of things… perhaps he was being irrational. He knew that his memories had yet to fully fall into place, and he’d never been a fan of making judgments before he could see the whole story…

But he felt wrong, when he tried not to call Link for the twelfth time, and he drifted past Zelda while she watched him with her wide, questioning eyes.

“I need to go see him, Zelda. Even if nothing’s wrong. I need to go see him.”

And so they went back out to the car, and drove to go see Link.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear when I started writing this I had no idea I was going to take this direction. I’m going crazy with the timeline stuff (the timeline that you find in Hyrule Historia) and it’s a little hard to follow because I’m not using game titles. I tried to make it as obvious as possible, using the timeline names. So “Dark era/Twilight era” is MM, TP, etc. “Flood era” is all of the games that involve WW, so PH and ST.   
> I definitely did not intend for Ghirahim to play such a huge role, but I really like his personality and I needed a break from dealing with slimy nasty Ghirahim in Hands of the Dead. When I'm writing Hands of the Dead, I'm in love with Sheik. When I'm writing this, I'm in love with Dark. I just want him to be happy, but if I give him that, where will the story be?????  
> If you could follow, the “Third Timeline” is the canonical “Hero Defeated” timeline with a twist, involving ALTTP/ALBW, The Oracles, LA, Zelda I and Zelda II (which, in terms of release, features “shadow Link” first). I’m not including Breath of the Wild… one because I started writing this story way before it came out, and two because I’m waiting till summer to play it so I can just binge.   
> I’m such a Zelda nerd it’s unreal and it doesn’t help that I decided to dump all my knowledge into this one story. This was the nerd out/plot heavy chapter, and everything will start moving pretty quickly after this one.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I loved him. He's mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ha ha ha ha ha

In a memory covered, _coated_ and full to the brim with fear, Link heard a voice whisper to him. Cold arms wrapped around him, hands slick coated in something warm.

He couldn’t break free, no matter how hard he tried. Even as he felt his real self hit the ground, both mind and body fighting with every fiber of his being.

He wanted to tell himself none of it was real. Around him, the world pulsed with an energy he couldn’t place.

 _I told you so._ The Dreamer told him. The Hero left with an imaginary task. The one tasked with waking the Wind Fish… the Dreamer.

The Dreamer knew the truth.

Lips were on his ear, he felt them in many overlapped memories, in the foreign landscape of his mind and on his body, as he lay somewhere in the darkness.  

_I love you._

The voice he’d known so well from his memories rang clear in the room. Dark.

He supposed he should feel safe, but when he felt hands caress his face in the darkness, the blanket of fear wrapped around his body in place of the safety he so longed for.

~X~

Link wasn’t home. There was blood on the bathroom sink and in the grooves between the tile on the floor.

The world throbbed around them.

Sheik’s fear shattered that glasses that sat silently in the cabinet.

~X~

Dark’s feet wouldn’t carry him. He found himself behind the school, curled in the grass there. Something was pulling him into the ground, and when Ghirahim and Byrne found him, he was sure he was no longer in his own body.

The world was _moving_.

He didn’t hear the sirens in the distance, and the only thing that brought him to the surface was the sudden jolt of his head as it flopped limply to his back.

He sat up, looking around, suddenly aware…

“Glad you decided to join us. We’ll need you to walk yourself, now,” Ghirahim growled. When he looked up at the teacher, he could see the twin lines of blood that dripped from his nose. Byrne’s eyes were bloodshot and he offered no response to Dark’s questioning glare.

“There’s not much time, Dark.” Byrne whispered, his voice sounding hoarse. Ghirahim wiped more blood onto his white suit and led Dark into the gymnasium where more students waited. They were mainly athletes and musicians, Dark noticed. Students who’d been staying late after school. When the world shook, so did they. “Someone started-“

The room pulsed again, and this time the wave took students down with it. Ghirahim let out a sound of pain and hunched, coughing himself to his knees. Dark’s mind jumped to Link, when he realized that he, Zelda, and Sheik were not in the room. He looked around again, ignoring the splitting headache he could feel forming.

“Get the Hyrulians out of here. Leave the rest.” He whispered when the coughing subsided. Dark looked at the crowd of students.

“What?”

“You heard me! The people of Hyrule, the people of Lorule, the people of Twilight. No enemies, you can’t-“ The teacher was cut off by another round of coughing. His nose began to gush blood on the pants of his white suit.

Dark didn’t need to be told twice. He ran into the crowd and reached to pull Midna away from Vaati, Groose from the fallen history teacher, Cole. He supposed if someone was awakening Demise or Ganondorf or whoever, the enemies of the past would be the most immediately threatening. Even though it seemed like whoever was working the magic was trying to kill them.

Or, possibly, steal their magic.

Dark grabbed a girl who was once Link’s sister, and he remembered her as a small, friendly girl. One look in her eyes, and he realized she had no idea who he was. And while Groose seemed unaffected, the pulsing energy in the air moving right through him, Midna realized instantly. Groose led the rest of the unaffected students back into the school

“We’ve got to get out of here,” She said to Dark, when he’d locked the gym with Ghirahim and the rest of the fallen “enemies”. “Something’s not right.”

“What do you remember?”

“Enough. It’s nice to see you again, Hero.”

Dark let a sad smile settle on his face, staring at the tall princess. “It’s nice to see you as well, Your Highness.” He turned away from the door and tried his best to pinpoint the source of the energy. “But that’s Link’s title.”

~X~

Zelda was afraid. She finally felt what she assumed Sheik had been feeling this whole time. There was a familiar energy in the air, but it wasn’t something she distinctly _knew_. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it was Ganondorf’s magic working…

But it wasn’t. It was just that little bit of difference that scared her.

She felt so _helpless._ She couldn’t move from her spot. She’d been grounded here, ever since they’d entered the kitchen. She could think, and _plead._

Sheik was leaned over Link’s kitchen table, his pale hands gripping the linoleum as he heaved over the sink. There were small pulses of magic energy coming from him, and when she focused enough Zelda supposed she could prevent them from disturbing her own energy…

“Sheik, please, talk to me,” She tried again for the umpteenth time. “You need to control yourself.”

“I’m _trying._ ” He hissed at her, another pulse interfering with the periodic one that came from some unknown source. Zelda focused harder on the energy surrounding him, bending it just enough… just… enough…

Sheik collapsed to the ground and Zelda leaned forward to take a breath. Her hands were shaking when she reached for her brother, who was trying to pull himself from his crumpled spot on the ground. He shook his head, and Zelda flinched when she sensed the magic energy in him.

“I’m sorry, I just-“

“You remembered your magic. It’s fine.” It was definitely not fine, Zelda decided, but she wasn’t going to tell Sheik that. “We need to focus on finding Link. He could be anywhere around here, and we don’t know what’s going on.” She ignored the fact that Sheik seemed to have no control over his ability to _paralyze_ people, and the fact that they had no time to figure out how his newfound magic ability even worked.

“I don’t know, I just… there’s too much…” Sheik, despite his confusion, felt… normal. He’d say it was the most normal he’d felt since the entire ordeal. His mind was quiet—in panic mode, yes, but quiet—and he felt like he owned his own body. Whatever he’d just gone through…

“Sheik, I know, but we need to go find him.” Zelda started walking towards the exit before Sheik could take the time to think about his new situation, and her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“It’s Dark?” She looked at the screen for a half of second before reaching to answer, but Sheik held up his phone as well. Dark’s name was showing. Was he calling both of them… at the same time?

“Hello?” Zelda answered, and Sheik canceled the call incoming into his phone. She was met with silence, and then a breathless voice answered. It was higher pitched than Dark’s, and it sounded desperate… but-

“Princess.”

It was Dark.

“Dark-“

“Princess, listen to me,” the voice was urgent, but it was _wrong._ In the static-filled background, there was another voice, yelling something unintelligible. “He’s mine now, do you understand?”

“Dark, what the hell are you-“

“He’s mine now. He-“

The call disconnected, and Sheik showed Zelda the phone that had been ringing the entire time. “Answer it,” she whispered, and when Sheik complied they were met with silence.

“Hello?”

“Sheik, um, hey, where are you?” This voice was, too, unmistakably Dark. Sheik opened his mouth to respond, but Zelda snatched the phone from his hand and growled into the mic, “you need to explain who you are right. Now.”

“What the-“

“Now!”

“Zelda I do not have time for this shit,” Dark’s clearer voice answered through the speaker. “I’m at the school, and I’ve got students and teachers passed out in the gym. Ghirahim told me to lock it up, ‘cause of the energy around here, but I’m not too sure how long that will last.”

“You said you were at the school?” Sheik asked, grabbing his phone back from Zelda.

“Yeah. Shiek? You sound different.” The teen mused, and Sheik hummed in response.

“Things’ve been quiet. Do you know what’s…”

“What the energy is? No. Midna’s got an idea, but we-“

“Link is missing,” Zelda interjected. She was frustrated at Sheik’s sudden change yet again. He was back to his old self it seemed, but now was _not_ the time. “What do you mean people are passing out?”

“The- Link, he’s…“ the phone was quiet for a second, before Dark continued. “The… people who were enemies in the past, I suppose, they all passed out. Ghirahim had a nose-bleed, Vaati was unconscious, so was Cole. Zant was seizing, and not in his usual manner.”

Zelda made a motion for Sheik to follow her, and the pair ran down to their car, noting the empty streets that lay in front of them.

“And you said you had Midna with you?”

“Yeah. I think she’s got enough memories to figure out some magic working. What happened to Link?”

Zelda started the car and Sheik took the phone back once again. “I’ve got some magic back,” Sheik answered, dodging the question, and Zelda glared at him as she backed out onto the road. They both anticipated Dark’s foul reaction to any details about Link. “Zelda’s got some sense back. Listen, Dark-“

“Hold on,” the teen cut in, and the line went dead. Before the two could respond, Dark was calling back. “I’m behind the gym,” he said curtly before hanging up again.

They were already on the road, and as they got closer to the school, the atmosphere was increasingly worsening. There were cars on the side of the road, abandoned, and there were no people around to accompany them. The energy in the air grew thicker and more concentrated, and when they finally approached the school’s largest gym, they could see Dark and Midna hunched over something that looked like a mirror.

When they got out of the car, Dark looked up and waved them over. “The energy feels like it’s coming from under the school. Midna’s trying to…?”

“I’m trying to feel what the magic’s purpose is.” She looked up and smiled at Zelda, who smiled genuinely back. “It’s nice to see you again, Princess Zelda.”

“Same to you,” Zelda replied, and Sheik looked between them before placing his hand on the ground beside Midna’s.

“You said Link was missing?” Dark asked, but Zelda didn’t seem to hear him as the three of them analyzed the magic. Dark tried to ask again, but he felt like he was moving through fog. His arms felt heavy and the nausea washing over his body came and went with the magic in the air.

“It doesn’t feel like there’s a way to get to the source,” Sheik said after a moment, and Midna nodded in agreement. He glanced up at Dark, who was trying to keep from vomiting. Zelda seemed to notice at the same time her brother did, and went to stand with him.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I don’t have a magic bone in my body, but at least whatever this is isn’t affecting me like the ones inside of the gym.” That was a lie. The magic was affecting him strongly, and it was nothing but sheer will power that kept him on his feet.

Zelda nodded in response, looking back at Sheik and Midna. “I got a call from your phone earlier.”

Dark’s mouth was sealed shut, as if opening it again would cause him to vomit, but his expression was one of confusion. He ran his hand through his hair, pulling his fingers roughly through the sweat-slicked strands.

“It was at the same time you called Sheik. Whoever called, they were upset. Said ‘He’s mine now’ and hung up.” She crossed her arms and looked at Dark. “It doesn’t help that we can’t find Link.”

Midna stood up from her place on the ground beside Sheik. “We can’t find a source, and I’m not sure I could find Link, either. I can’t feel where he could be.”

The three looked towards Sheik, who was still hunched on the ground, carefully. “I think… I think I’ve found something.” As he spoke, a blue light rose from the ground he was kneeling on. “The source is from underground. I’m going to try to get us down there. Dark, are you in any condition to fight?”

“Yes.” Dark coughed out, still bracing himself against the wall. Midna and Zelda gave him a skeptical look. “Is Link down there too?”

“I’m not sure,” Sheik responded honestly. “But I don’t know where else he could be.”

“If we can find a sword for me, I can fight,” Zelda chimed, removing her jacket and using the hair tie on her wrist to pull her blonde hair back. She tossed one to Midna, who did the same with her orange-red hair.

“I should be fine without a weapon,” Midna added once she got herself in order. “I doubt there’ll be that much sunlight if we’re going underground.”

 The gym door rattled and Dark ran to it, pressing his ear against it. There was a muffled voice from the other side, and Dark moved to open it, revealing Ghirahim leaned up against a short Zora boy.

“If you need weapons,” Ghirahim coughed, “I should be able to use the last of my magic to supply you.” He snapped his pale fingers and his sword materialized, and he nodded his head for Zelda to retrieve it. Another snap and a heavy looking broadsword was given to Dark, who stabbed it through the side of his jacket for a makeshift sheath. Sheik received smaller, thinner knives, which he stuck in the sides of his belt and continued to work his magic into the earth.

“There’s magic that feels too familiar for my liking,” Ghirahim mumbled, as he turned to go back towards the gym. “I wish you all the best of luck.”

And as soon as the doors to the gym were closed and resealed, Sheik’s magic revealed a tunnel that lead into a never-ending darkness.

~X~

He was outside when he awoke.

In all technicalities, he was indoors. There was a stone ceiling, many, many, _many,_ feet above, which dripped water down on and beside him with a quiet, steady tempo. The air was fresh, clean like a forest, and there was a breeze that lifted his hair from his forehead and set it back down, gently.

But his mind told him that he was outside, in a grove. And when he stared at the ceiling hard enough, he could see the sky in its place.

He was lying on soft grass, grass that brought back memories that comforted him, even in his confused state.

His head ached.

When he sat up, he could see the light shining down in the grove from seemingly nowhere. The sky and the sun were perhaps the source… but he knew that despite what he saw, they didn’t exist.

He felt like he was underground, underneath the earth.

His head _ached._

For some reason, he felt like he wasn’t alone in this grove, but he had no memory of how he’d come to arrive here in the first place. He felt solidly grounded in his body, and his vision didn’t have the surreal tint to it… his feelings now didn’t seem like they were clouded by someone else’s thoughts.

He was here… but he didn’t understand how he’d gotten here.

His _head ached._

When he stood, the world tilted and he fell back into the soft grass. He took a moment to gather himself, digging his hands in the damp ground, before standing up and taking in more of his surroundings. There was some kind of pedestal in the center, and his muddy mind pulsed with every bone in his body screaming different messages.

The Links of his memories seemed to reach a general consensus: they remembered this place. The fact that he was here was Bad.

_His head ached._

When Link reached up to feel it, he saw through the haze that he was covered in blood.

It seemed to source from different places on his head, one of the sources was a gash on his chin. He felt the source of pain on his head, and felt not only a raised lump but blood clotted around the area.

The realization jolted him from his foggy haze, but his aching head protested. When he approached a puddle on the ground of the meadow, he saw that there were blotchy bruises forming on his face… how long had he been lying on the ground in the middle of nowhere?

There was a bang, followed by a pang of fear that sprinted through his gut, forcing him nearly to his knees again.

“Princess,” a voice was whispering, desperate. Link tried, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source of the voice. “He’s mine, now.”

A bird took off from the trees to his right. The voice was quiet again, and he didn’t want that to change. Link figured he could make his way silently across the grass and stone, given his bare feet. The grassy patches seemed to be free of anything that could injure him, but he remained careful until he was at the pedestal, looking at the engravings surrounding it.

It was the same as the one he’d seen in the museum. The pedestal for the Master Sword stood in front of him, and when he blinked, he could see the sword itself in its natural place.

When he looked up, he could see Dark standing on the other side of the pedestal.

When he blinked, Dark was gone.

“Link,” he heard from behind, but before he could respond Dark was already holding him, his grip deceptively tight. “Shh, shh, shh. You’re here,” he whispered, his hand plastered on Link’s mouth. Link felt his body begin to struggle, but he dug deeper in his mind…

 _Shadow Link_ , the Dreamer supplied. _He’s not who you think he is. You need to escape._

“Link, I need you to do something for me,” Shadow Link whispered in Link’s ear, and Link could feel how this man was shorter than Dark, thinner. His voice was higher, and raspy. “But first…” Shadow Link released Link and walked in front of him, hands in the air. “I’m not your enemy.”

_He’s lying._

Link couldn’t move. There was something heavy holding him into place, and a memory of the feeling let him know that it was magic that kept him trapped in place. When he looked into Shadow Link’s red and black eyes, all of the Links of past in his mind cried out at once.

It was excruciating, feeling each memory cry out in protest. The different voices provided different memories, each with its own wave of fear and brutality; they were all warnings that his body would not allow him to heed.

“I’m not your enemy,” Shadow repeated, reaching a hand to caress Link’s bruised face. “You just…” he ran his thumb over the scratches that adorned the hero’s face, “you wouldn’t stop trying to fight me! And I didn’t have enough magic to keep you from doing something you’d regret. But now, I don’t have to hurt you anymore.”

Shadow Link extended a pale hand towards the altar, where dark red light flowed from the altar to his hand. He took a step back from Link and Link felt his body relax. But he still couldn’t move. The Master Sword floated between them, and Shadow Link’s pale face twisted into something like a mockery of sadness.

“Link, I need you to do something for me,” he repeated, walking with the floating sword towards the altar. The shadow’s neck jerked to one side, and he paused before turning back to Link. “I’m not your enemy.”  

The grove was silent for a second, while the shadow seemed to compose himself, muttering more repetitions of phrases he’d already spoken.

While he did this, Link analyzed him. The man was somehow very pale and very dark at the same time, his skin possessing a grayish color that changed with each fluctuation of the light. His hair was black and unkempt, falling over his strangely colored forehead… the “whites” of his eyes were black, with two red irises peering back at him.

How had he mistaken him for Dark? He felt almost ashamed… until Shadow Link gathered himself and turned around, with neat black hair and pale skin… red eyes so soft they were almost pink.

Sure, he was still smaller than Dark, but…

When he spoke, it was in Dark’s smooth, sure voice. “I’m sorry, Link. I lost myself for a second.” Link’s eyes could only follow Shadow Link so far, and he strained himself to keep an eye on the strange man. Another wave of pain and nausea fell over him when he lost track of Shadow Link, and he forced his mouth open just to heave.

“Are you feeling sick?” Shadow Link asked, appearing in front of him once again. “That was definitely not my intention. Please, let me help,” he said quietly, placing one of his pale hands on Link’s forehead…

And the pain vanished. As did six of the Links that were active in his mind. The others seemed to vanish as well, though they were still there. But… Link still had the memories, without the emotional input.

“I know, those memories can be pesky. I’m surprised no one did this for you… or that none of the memories provided you with the ability to do this.” Link felt the magic on him loosen up, and he sunk to the ground on shaky legs.

“Who are you?” He growled as soon as he could breathe.

“Link… I’m Dark.” The Shadow replied. “I… you’ve forgotten me?”

“You’re not Dark you-“

The magic seized him again and the Shadow kneeled in front of him. “Liar? I’m no liar, love. I am Dark. I am the original Dark Link, your original shadow. Unlike the _imposter,_ I knew how to follow my master _and_ my emotions.”

Shadow Link’s hand was on Link’s forehead once again, and an onslaught of memories ran across his mind. He watched as Dark—no, Shadow—sat with him beside Hylia Lake, in a world slightly dimmed and muted compared to the Hyrule of his memories.

“We shared so much time together, Link,” the man spoke from in front of him. “Sure, Hyule was a darker place… but we were happy.”

The wrong feeling that came over Link was his own, the second-hand memories were silent.

“I followed my orders… Link, you have to believe me…” the desperation in the Shadow’s voice gave Link pause, and he felt the magic energy lift from his body once again.

“Who are you?” Link asked again, and Shadow sighed sadly, leveling Link with a pink-red gaze.

“I was the original. Master created me to dispatch you… but I couldn’t. He created another, more promising. A better fighter, a better… a better everything. He was bigger, faster, stronger… but he was unfit, too. He couldn’t follow _orders._ The Hero and his Shadow, saving Hyrule.

“But I was better. Master didn’t _know_ , until later, when he used me, but he didn’t know. I am n—I’m not your enemy.” Shadow’s appearance shifted back to the strange one he’d had earlier, before slipping back into Dark’s image.

“I loved—I love you, Link. I never wanted… I never wanted to _hurt_ you, Link please believe me.”

Link couldn’t find his voice. When he searched his mind for input, he received none. He… he had to make the decision on his own.

He’d remembered the hatred held in his memories for Dark… or, who he believed was Dark. The heroes of the past hated Shadow Link. They hated him for what he did numerous times, for posing as the man they all loved and…

The one before him looked so much like Dark, sounded so much like Dark… and now that he knew the truth, the floodgates of trust for Dark opened and his instincts cried at him to flee from this imposter.

But… if Shadow Link was telling the truth, and he was the original “Dark Link”….

“You were there when…” Link thought to the times he’d seen the strange image, in visions and fights. He’d blown off whatever images he’d seen that resembled Dark, because they’d had black and red eyes, gray skin instead of porcelain.

“Yes. I was a Twilight Interloper. I stood behind the tree in the Water Temple, when your precious shadow entered the room and emerged victorious, but _changed_. What did he tell you?”

“He told me he had to conquer himself.”

“He had to conquer you. Or, rather… I guess himself. Another version of himself.”

“But if Dark was with you in the Temple, Link, when did you meet?” Link blinked at Shadow Link, his head beginning to hurt again. “

At the beginning of the Temple.”

“In a room, filled with water? And a tree?”

Link… supposed that was where they met? It felt wrong, but Link had no other flow of memories in his mind to prove Shadow Link wrong. Perhaps that’s why he’d resealed his memories.

“Link, I’m the Dark you met. He’s the one who emerged. He’s the one who accompanied you, helped you, and killed you in the end. He’s the one who let my Master succeed.”

To Link, nothing about this sounded right. He was full of questions for Shadow Link. He’d not finished sorting his memories when he was brought here, and now here he was in the hands of an enemy. No knowledge, no weapon, no magic.

He knew he was being lied to. Dark was the one who he’d spent his time with, not this imposter… save for in the third memory… the third memory… the—

Shadow Link’s lips were on his, and when he tried to flee, the magic energy was weighing down on him once again. The Shadow’s eyes were open, watching him with their flickering gaze. Shadow’s hands were back on Link’s face and when the Shadow finally sighed and pulled away, allowing Link to breathe and speak, Link scrambled away from him.

“Link, don’t be-“

“Stay away from me!” Link crawled towards the Master Sword that Shadow’d abandoned earlier, and Shadow Link watched him carefully as he picked it up from the ground and brandished it. His form was shaky, with his legs too close together and his knees not bent enough. His wrists looked weak and his whole body was tense.

He had no idea what he was doing.

Shadow Link smiled, holding up both of his hands. “Link, love, you’re on the right track! I needed you to pick up the sword, you know. It burned me whenever I tried to touch it. I’m made of different stuff than you and your dear ‘Dark Link’.”

Link growled at him and fixed his stance, thinking back to the brief sword-fighting lessons he’d taken with Ghirahim. He thought about Dark’s stance, and way of handling a sword, and he loosened his body and held the sword in his left hand, lowering it to his side. His right arm ached distantly for a shield.

He watched as Shadow Link walked absently around the meadow, seemingly unaffected by Link’s weapon. Link took this moment to strike, swinging his sword in a downward arc like he’d seen Dark do—

Shadow Link had him disarmed in a second, the Master Sword landing in the soft grass at Link’s bare feet.

“You thought you could fight me, Hero?” Shadow Link growled in his ear as he forced Link to kneel in the grass. “You thought you were a match for me? I’ve taken your memories, I’ve taken everything from you! You’re mine!” Link fought back, but his body felt so weak and _tired._

“Do you know how _long_ I’ve been waiting for this? How long I sat back and watched you and your precious sidekick prance around in Hyrule Field, like you deserved to be happy? While I was locked away as a failure!” Shadow Link threw Link to the ground and stood up, the Master Sword hovering beside him as he stalked towards the altar. He grabbed the back of Link’s shirt, dragging him towards the pedestal as well.

“I watched you two _fuck_ in the moonlight while I sat rotting away in the bottom of that forsaken castle with the rest of Gandondorf’s failed experiments. I will _never_ forget the stench of that foul place, while _he_ got to smell the air of Hyrule in _my place._ I was not the FAILURE!” Shadow screeched, throwing Link down at the pedestal. “I was not the one who _let you LIVE!”_

Link propped himself up on the pedestal and froze when he saw Shadow Link standing over him, Master Sword hovering above him. He fully expected it to land in his chest, inside of the many stab wound scars that he knew were now showing on his chest.

But it didn’t, and Shadow Link stood over him, chest heaving. “Put the sword in its place.” He growled at Link, dropping the heavy sword beside his head. “You have to be the one to do it. Put the sword. In. The. Ground.”

Link reached with a trembling hand towards the sword, but felt his body begin to fail on him. His head was throbbing once again, and he could hear distant voices of the memories Shadow had sealed screaming at him. Distantly, he heard Shadow scream and before he could feel the boot that was descending on him, his body had already gone limp.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long chapter, no editing. If you see mistakes, let me know. I'm sure it's crawling in mistakes. I wrote the second half of this thing in, like, an hour. Also, let me know how much you totally hate me for pulling the cliche of all cliches.   
> I'm actually very, very unhappy with how Shadow Link turned out as a character, but there's not much I can do. I've already gone down that plot rabbit hole. He's got his own memory problems to deal with, and as you can see he is n o t handling them well. At all.   
> Next chapter is a guaranteed mess. I didn't know if I wanted to post the whole chapter at once (kinda wanted to split it into 2k and 3k word chapters, but this is what happened.   
> Anyway, stay tuned for next chapter, I'm apologizing in advance.

**Author's Note:**

> I made a [tumblr](https://kydesert.tumblr.com/) !! It's just a baby, it's empty, but if you wanna talk about nonsense or ask me questions or read short little posts that are too tiny for even ao3, feel free to drop by! (Feel free to harass me when I'm taking too long to update)


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